The Solvent Extractor's Association (SEA) has noted in a latest update that following the upward revision of import duty in March and later in June and also the depreciation of Rupee have been capping the domestic import of vegetable oils. This is evident for the fact that in June the import was actually down by 23% which decreased further in July to 27% (corresponding month last year) and overall import during November '17 to July '18 (9 months) is down by 5.5%. Further, the country is sitting on huge stock of nearly 25.0 lakh tones of edible oils equal to 39 days requirement, noted SEA. Even though there has been hike in import duty, Indian consumer is not affected, since international prices of edible oil have gone down by upto 14% due to excess supply in the world market. The association opined that looks like for the 1st time after many years we will see a negative growth in import of edible oil which is a positive development for industry and farmers.
The export of oilmeals is also showing a positive trend. The overall exports during April to July is about 9.0 lakh tons compared to 7.25 lakh tons during the same period of last year i.e. up by about 25%, thanks to sharp increase in export of rapeseed meal. The ongoing trade dispute between USA and China has created a lot of uncertainty and forcing China to look to other origins for their requirements of soybean and other oilmeals. This has compelled China to relook its ban imposed for importing of oilmeals from India since 2012. This will open up Chinese market for India. Last month, an official Delegation from Ministry of Commerce visited China and tried to sort out the issues and likely to start the export of oilmeals to China. Prior to ban in 2012, China used to import nearly half a million tons of oilmeals viz. about 3.5 to 4.0 lakh tons of Rapeseed meal and 1.0 lakh tons of soybean meal from India.
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