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Indian refiners imported a record volume of soyoil in August alongside the highest palm oil purchases in six months, as buyers built stocks ahead of the country's peak festival season, according to five industry dealers.
The surge in edible oil buying by the world's largest vegetable oil importer could help leading producers in Indonesia, Malaysia and Argentina draw down inventories and lend support to benchmark palm oil and soyoil futures on global exchanges.
India's palm oil imports climbed 7% month-on-month to 780,000 metric tons in August, based on dealers' average estimates. Soyoil imports jumped 21% from July to a record 601,000 tons, while sunflower oil shipments dropped 38% to a six-month low of 157,000 tons. Total edible oil imports rose 4% to an 11-month high of 1.54 million tons, propelled by stronger palm and soyoil arrivals.
The figures exclude duty-free shipments arriving overland from neighbouring Nepal. Dealers noted that approximately 100,000 tons of edible oils, including 90,000 tons of soyoil, were imported from Nepal in August.
The Solvent Extractors' Association of India is scheduled to release its official August import data by mid-September. 'Refiners increased purchases to meet festive demand and because nearby deliveries were cheaper than shipments for later months,' said Rajesh Patel, managing partner at GGN Research in Rajkot, in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
India celebrates a series of festivals between August and November, a period when edible oil demand typically peaks. Commenting on the composition of imports, Mumbai-based Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of vegetable oil brokerage Sunvin Group, said soyoil purchases surged because the oilseed was more competitively priced than palm oil, while sunflower oil shipments from the Black Sea were disrupted by an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
India sources the bulk of its palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, while soyoil and sunflower oil are mainly imported from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine. 'Even in September, Indian imports of soyoil and palm oil are going to be very high,' Bajoria added.
Source: Devdiscourse