Lang
India, the world's top palm oil importer, is accelerating purchases after a sharp price drop made the commodity more attractive than soybean oil. The shift has already supported Malaysian palm oil futures, which had fallen around 10% since the start of 2025, according to a Dairy News Today report.
Sandeep Bajoria, CEO of brokerage Sunvin Group, said: "Indian refiners had halted palm oil imports because of high prices, but now that palm oil has become cheaper than soybean oil, fresh buying orders have started coming in."
According to market sources, crude palm oil (CPO) for May delivery to India is priced at around $1,050 a tonne CIF (cost, insurance and freight), while crude soybean oil is hovering around $1,100 a tonne.
Palm oil imports had slowed sharply since December 2024, when the price gap between palm oil and soybean oil widened to more than $100 a tonne. Between December and March, India imported 1.57 million tonnes of palm oil, averaging just under 385,000 tonnes a month. A further shipment of around 350,000 tonnes was expected to arrive in April.
By contrast, during the previous marketing year that ended in October 2024, India's palm oil imports averaged more than 750,000 tonnes a month, according to the Solvent Extractors' Association of India. Official figures for April are expected by mid-May.
With stocks running low, imports are expected to rise sharply — exceeding 500,000 tonnes in May, 600,000 tonnes in June, and potentially topping 700,000 tonnes a month between July and September.
Rajesh Patel, managing partner at trading firm GGN Research, noted that "refiners are under pressure to rebuild stocks that were depleted during the past months of lower imports."
India typically sources its palm oil imports from Indonesia and Malaysia, while importing soybean oil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.
Source: Dairy News Today