Palm oil imports fall 11% in January

India, the world's leading vegetable oil buyer, had imported 688,393 tonnes palm oil in Jan 2015

Palm oil imports fell for the third consecutive month by 11.56 per cent to 608,762 tonnes in January, on account of good domestic oilseeds production and better availability of edible oils, industry body Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) said on Wednesday.

India, the world’s leading vegetable oil buyer, had imported 688,393 tonnes palm oil in January 2015.

The country’s total vegetable oil imports fell by 19 per cent to 1.24 million tonnes (mt) in January this year from 1.26 mt in the year-ago period.

“Import has reduced due to good Kharif oilseeds crop and better domestic availability of edible oils and utilisation of stock.