17/08/2012 (Zee News) - India's import of vegetable oils rose by 20 percent to 72.65 lakh tonne in the first three quarters of the current oil year, latest industry data said.

The country had imported 60.43 lakh tonne of vegetable oils (edible and non-edible oil) in the November-July period of the 2010-11 oil year. Oil year runs from November to October.

The country's in-bound shipments of vegetable oils, however declined for the second consecutive month in July. It fell by about 5 per cent to 8.70 lakh tonne in July 2012 from 9.13 lakh tonne in July 2011, Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) said.

India's import of vegetable oils had declined by 9 percent to 7.83 lakh tonne in June 2012 from 8.63 lakh tonne in June 2011 after rising continuously for four months.

"During November, 2011 to July, 2012, import of refined oil (RBD Palmolein) is up by 80 per cent and reported at 1,325,163 tonne compared to 736,985 tonne during the same period of last year," SEA said.

According to the industry body, the share of refined oil has increased to 19 percent, while crude oil has decreased to 81 percent.

"Share of RBD Palmolein is likely to increase as current Indonesian inverted duty structure encourages larger export of refined oils (9 percent export duty) over crude oil (18 percent export duty) and also the gap between crude and refined Palm oil has reduced to just USD 33, which was USD 95 a year back, discouraging local refining," SEA added.

SEA estimated that the total stock of edible oil at ports and in pipeline as on August 1, 2012 is 16.25 lakh tonne.

"Total stock, both at port and in pipelines has decreased by 65,000 to 1,625,000 tonne," it said.