18/01/2013 (Bernama) - The import duty hike on crude edible oil by the Indian government will only have minimal impact on the Malaysian palm oil industry, a leading research house said today.

OSK Research Sdn Bhd said the move would not hurt the industry as India was still very reliant on imports to meet its local edible oil consumption which stands at about 19 million tonnes per annum.

The research house said the hike in edible oil import duty will likely have a stronger impact on Indonesia palm oil producers than Malaysian producers due to the former's lion share in India's palm oil imports.

Last year, India bought 7.7 million tonnes of palm oil, of which 6.1 million tonnes were crude palm oil (CPO) and the rest were palm olein.

Of the 7.7 million tonnes, only 2.6 million tonnes came from Malaysia, it said in a research note today.