27/09/2007 (The Economic Times), NEW DELHI - Nafed, which has so far imported 40,000 tonne of edible oil, will keep a track of international prices before deciding on further imports.

“We have so far contracted import of 40,000 tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO) and soya oil, out of which 9,000 tonne are degummed soya oil,” Nafed managing director Alok Ranjan told reporters here on Tuesday. He added the international prices of edible oil have firmed up in last few days after being stable for quite sometime.

The prices of CPO has increased by 6.18% in the last one month while the increase in soya oil is 8.6%. The price of crude soya oil is $859 per tonne while that of CPO is $790 a tonne.

Mr Ranjan indicated both soyabean and groundnut outputs are expected to be more this year making larger availability for crushing. However, the country will still need to import about 50 lakh tonne this year, he added. The Nafed MD denied any plan for retail sale of imported edible oils saying “it is not a priority for us”.

Meanwhile, the committee of secretaries (CoS) is scheduled to meet on Tuesday to take stock of the situation on edible oil prices and oilseeds production in the country.

According to the first advance estimate released by the agriculture ministry, oilseeds production, which declined last year, is likely to go up by about 16% at 16.13 million tonne (MT) in kharif 2007, compared to 13.94 million tonne the year ago.

Groundnut production is pegged at 5.2 million tonne, while soyabean at 9.1 million tonne However, the industry has pegged the oilseeds output at 15.2 million tonne in 2007-08, compared to 13.2 MT in the previous year. According to the Central Organisation of Oil Industry and Trade (Cooit), soyabean output is likely to go up to 8.6 MT, against 7.7 MT last year.