Edible oil imports for the first three months of the new oil year are marginally up by 4.79 per cent from the same period in the previous corresponding oil year.
From 882,138 metric tonne (MT) last year, this year the imports by the end of January 2003 are at 924,472 MT.
Highest jump was registered in sunflower oil making up for the sharp drop in crude palm oil and RBD palmolein imports.
Sunflower oil imports also shot up a whopping 333.33 per cent from 1800 MT last year to 7800 MT in the first three months. The month of January saw imports of 5000 MT against no imports last year in January 2002.
The edible oil imports for the month of January 2003 alone are up 5.80 per cent up from the January last year at 288,496 MT from 272,674 MT.
Crude olein imports saw a jump in three months alone of 156.60 per cent to 374,894 MT from 146,100 MT from the same period last year. Imports for the month of January rose to 112,383 MT from 57,731 MT.
RBD Palmolein imports dropped by a whopping 93.68 per cent from November 2002 to January 2003 for the corresponding period last year from 101,398 MT to 6403 MT. Imports for the month of January 2003 are at 5,904 MT against imports of 4,998 MT from last year.
Total imports of degummed soyabean oil are also up for the first three months of the new oil year at 167,197 MT, up 51.17 per cent from last year
