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Vegetable oils imports rose by 25% in July to 11.09 lakh tonnes on the back of record inward shipments of soyabean oil, according to industry data.
Imports of vegetable oils, which comprises both edible and non-edible oils, stood at 8.89 lakh tonnes in July, 2013.
"Import of vegetable oils during July 2014 is up by 25% and reported at 11,09,674 tonnes compared to 8,89,493 tonnes in July 2013," Solvent Extractors' Association of India said in a statement.
"Import of soyabean oil jumped to record level of 3,06,068 tonnes in July 2014, the highest in any single month since import opened up in OGL in 1994," the association added.
Between November, 2013 and July, 2014 period, imports of vegetable oils rose by 2% to 81,91,894 tonnes as compared to 80,34,553 tonnes in the corresponding period of previous oil year.
Oil year runs from November to October.
In the first nine months of the current oil year, imports of refined oil (RBD Palmolein) is reported at 12,00,566 tonnes compared to 17,58,107 tonnes during the same period of previous year.
Import of crude oil increased to 68,47,537 tonnes compared to 60,58,516 tonnes thanks to higher import of crude soyabean, sunflower and canola oil that constitute nearly 35% of the total crude oil import, SEA said.
Current stock of edible oils as on 1st August at various ports is estimated at 570,000 tonnes and about 10,20,000 tons in pipelines.
"Total stock, both at ports and in pipelines increased to 15,90,000 tonnes from 14,85,000 tonnes in previous months".
India imported over 10 million tonnes of vegetable oils during 2012-13 oil year, which is about 50% of its domestic demand.
Import duty on refined edible oil is 10% and crude edible oil 2.5%. The country imports palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, while soyabean oil is imported from Argentina and Brazil.
