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However, since the start of the current oil year (November- May) vegetable oil imports have been stagnant at 6.1 million tonnes. Import of non edible oil in May was at it's lowest level and was down by 38% to 11,546 tonnes.
Palm oil imports were also down during the current oil year to 4.3 million tonnes. However, the import of soft oil during the year has almost doubled to 1.7 million tonnes.
India meets about 60% of its annual vegetable oil demand of 17-18 million tonne via imports. Palm oils make up 80% of the country's total vegetable oil imports. Among soft crude oil, the import of soybean oil substantially increased to 174,209 tonnes compared to 113,000 tonnes in April a rise of 54%. Sunflower oil has increased by 5% to 178,753 tonnes.
"Indian refiners prefer importing crude oils as it is easier to process and even small refiners can process it, with crude palm oil only big refiners can refine it. This has also caused refiners to increase imports," said BV Mehta, executive director of SEA.
Refining activity in India had also taken a hit due to lower availability of soybean on the market which was available for crushing. Most of India's crude oil imports otherwise come in from Indonesia and Malaysia.
