Vegetable oil July imports up 46% to 1.7 mn tn due to palm oil shipments

India's vegetable oil imports increased by 46 per cent to 17.71 lakh tonnes in July this year on rise in palm oil shipments, industry body SEA said on Monday.

The country's vegetable oil imports stood at 12.14 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period, it said.

Similarly, during the first nine months of the 2022-23 oil year (November-October), the overall import of vegetable oils increased by 23 per cent to 122.54 lakh tonnes from 99.74 lakh tonnes in the same period last year.

Vegetable oil imports comprise both edible and non-edible oils.

According to the Solvent Extractors Association (SEA), edible oil imports rose 46 per cent to 17.55 lakh tonnes during July this year, when compared to 12.05 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.

Non-edible oil imports too increased to 15,999 tonnes from 9,069 tonnes in the said period.

With sharp reduction in domestic prices of edible oils, "demand has returned which is evident from the rising import in spite of better domestic availability reflecting in July data", the SEA said.

Looking at the import of edible oils in the first three quarters, the industry body said it will not be surprised to see a "record" import of vegetable oils at 150 to 155 lakh tonnes in the current oil year ending October 2023.

India is sitting on huge stock for nearly 45 days requirements and supply chain will be comfortable during festival season, it added.

India imports palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, and a small quantity of crude soft oil, including soyabean oil from Argentina. Sunflower oil is imported from Ukraine and Russia.