14/07/2009 (Bloomberg) - Vegetable oil imports by India, the biggest buyer after China, will rebound starting next month as traders stockpile the commodity to meet festival demand, the nation’s second-biggest buyer said.

Imports will rise to between 600,000-700,000 metric tons a month through October because of a delay in sowing of soybeans and peanuts, Atul Chaturvedi, chief executive of Adani Wilmar Ltd., said in an interview. Purchases this month may be 200,000 tons less than the imports in recent months, he said.

Higher Indian purchases may help arrest a slide in palm oil prices in Malaysia. The vegetable oil, which makes up almost 90 percent of India’s edible oil imports, has lost 26 percent since reaching an eight-month high in May.

“Edible oil demand from India is going to remain robust at least until October,” said Chaturvedi. “A drop in July imports will help cut down stockpiles.”

India’s major Hindu festivals begin with Janmasthami on Aug. 13 and Diwali, the festival of lights, falls on Oct. 17.

Oilseeds farmers planted 5.6 million hectares as of July 10, 35 percent less than a year earlier, because of deficient rains in the main growing regions, the farm ministry said last week. That will delay harvest by at least two weeks, stoking demand for imported oils, Chaturvedi said.

September-delivery palm oil rose as much as 3.4 percent to 2,058 ringgit a ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange and was at 2,054 ringgit at 5:08 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur.

Prices of the commodity may have bottomed out around 2,000 ringgit a ton as demand from India and China demand may prevent inventories in Malaysia from rising too fast, he said.

India’s November-to-June vegetable oil purchases surged 79 percent to 5.82 million tons, Mumbai-based Solvent Extractors’ Association said today. Purchases in June were 780,679 tons, including 353,745 tons of crude palm oil, the trade body said.

The South Asian nation buys palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, and soybean oil from Argentina and Brazil.

Adani Wilmar is a venture between Adani Group and Wilmar International Ltd., the world’s biggest palm oil trader.