The country imported 15 million tonnes (MT) of vegetable oils during the 2017-18 oil year ended October 31, down 2.72 per cent from the year-ago period, industry body Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said Thursday.
The world's leading vegetable oil buyer had purchased 15.4 MT in the November 2016-October 2017 period.
About 70 per cent of the domestic requirement is met through imports, and palm oil accounts for 60 per cent of the shipments.
"During 2017-18, imports increased in the first quarter. However, imports decreased in the second and the third quarters due to revision of import duty in June, fast rupee depreciation and also credit crunch...," the SEA said in a statement.
Imports increased in fourth quarter as pipelines were dried up due to lesser import in June and July, coupled with improved parity in the import of palm oil due to reduction in spread between palm oil and soft oils, it added.
Among vegetable oils, the SEA data showed that the country's edible oil shipments declined to 14.51 MT in 2017-18 from 15.07 MT in the previous year, while non-edible oils' import rose to 5,09,748 tonnes from 3,62,822 tonnes earlier.
Palm oil imports during the 2017-18 oil year declined to 8.7 MT from 9.29 MT in the previous year, while soft oils' shipments rose to 5.81 MT from 5.78 MT.
According to the SEA, "Over the last one year in the international market, prices of various edible oils have gone down in the range of 11 to 25 per cent due to excess supply in the world market and reduced demand by India. The rupee depreciating nearly 13 per cent also made the import expensive."
India imports palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, and a small quantity of crude soft oil, including soyabean oil, from Latin America. Sunflower oil is imported from Ukraine and Russia.
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