24/05/2008 (Commodity Online), Mumbai - India will continue to import palm oil in large quantities so long as there is a major price difference between palmoil and soyoil . The country is expected to import 5.8 mn tonnes of vegetable oil of which palm oil will constitute five million tonnes, more than eight percent of the total.

The price difference between soyoil and palm oil at $200 per tonne is contributing to the increased import of large quantities of palm oil, aocording to B V Mehta, Executive Chairman of Solvent Extractors Association of India. Soy oil’s share in India’s imports has been declining in recent months, according to market reports.

India will continue to import vegetable in large quantities as production of oil seed is not keeping pace with demand.

In the present marketing year which ends on October 2008, India may import only 600,000 tons of soyoil, less than half of the 1.3 million tons imported in the previous year, Mehta speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Jakarta said.

On the other hand, palm oil imports may rise to 4.5-5.0 million tons, up from 3.2 million tons last year.

The vegetable oil import was 5.59 million tonne in 2006-07 oil year, SEA said. Out of that, 4.71 million tonne were edible oils and 2.5 lakh tonne vanaspati. The edible and non-edible oil imports would grow at an average of about 3.5 lakh tonne every year, he added.

Indonesia, the largest producer of palm oil, will be the biggest beneficiary of this rise in palm oil imports.