5/23/2005 - Indian food industry continues to show a strong commitment tooil imports following drop in domestic demand, says industry body.

Fresh figures from the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEAI)reveal that edible oil imports increased by some 21 per cent for the firstsix months to April 2005.

Imports jumped to 2.2 million tonnes in the first half of 2004-05, up from1.82 million tonnes for the same period last year.

"Imports are expected to be much higher this year because of a drop indomestic oilseeds production," said B.V. Mehta, executive director ofSEIA, adding that India was likely to import about 500,000 tonnes permonth this year.

Purchases of edible oil by India are expected to reach around 5 milliontonnes this year from 4.4 million tonnes in 2003-04, Mehta added, reportsthe American Soybean Association.

Soyoil in particular saw strong growth. Imports of crude soyoil leapt to735,352 tonnes in the November 2004 to April 2005 period, up from 236,990tonnes a year earlier. Crude palm oil purchases rose 10.8 per cent to 1.01million tonnes from 911,520 tonnes.

India's oilseed output for 2005 is estimated to be around 21.8 milliontonnes, a fall of 6.4 per cent from 23.3 million tonnes last year.

The processed food market is enjoying decent growth in India, pushing updemand for oils. The Indian branded food and drinks market grew last yearby over 5 per cent, according to recent figures from ACNielsen, outpacingthe global average growth rate of 4 per cent.

Supporting this buoyant overall trend, growth rates for individual productcategories within the Indian market too, reflect aggressive performanceswithin the similar period.

"If one looks specifically at the categories present in India, which canbe compared with what is available on retail shelves across the globe, itis clearly a case of aggregates camouflaging the scorching growth ratesexperienced by individual product categories" says Sujit Das Munshi,executive director for retail measurement services, ACNielsen South Asia.