Lang
India's palm oil imports rose 61% month-on-month in June to around 953,000 tonnes — the highest level in 11 months — as refiners took advantage of the wide price gap with competing oils, alongside low domestic stocks.
The jump marks a significant turning point in India's vegetable oil demand cycle, with palm oil beginning to reclaim market share it had lost to soybean and sunflower oils in recent months. Palm oil has become around $100 a tonne cheaper than rival oils.
The rise in imports comes at a strategically important time, as India is the world's largest buyer of vegetable oils, and the increased purchasing is expected to help draw down stocks held by major producers such as Indonesia and Malaysia, offering support to Malaysian palm oil futures, which have been under pressure.
According to traders, June saw diverging trends across other vegetable oils, with soybean oil imports falling 9% month-on-month to 363,000 tonnes, while sunflower oil imports rose 18% to 216,000 tonnes. As a result, palm oil accounted for roughly two-thirds of total vegetable oil imports, which climbed 30% from May to 1.53 million tonnes — the highest monthly total since November.
The buying spree has put palm oil back in the spotlight. Over the first seven months of the current marketing year (ending October 2025), India's average monthly palm oil imports stood at 475,699 tonnes, well below last year's monthly average of 750,000 tonnes. Should June's trend continue, a clear shift could be underway.
The pull factors extend beyond lower prices, with production also recovering in both Indonesia and Malaysia, prompting refiners to rebuild stocks ahead of the festival season.
It is worth noting that India relies mainly on Indonesia and Malaysia for its palm oil imports, while sourcing soybean and sunflower oils from Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine and Russia. Also notable was the drop in vegetable oil exports from Nepal to India to 75,000 tonnes in June, down from 155,000 tonnes in May, after India tightened controls on re-exports under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement.
With palm oil reclaiming price leadership and stocks continuing to run low, India's vegetable oil trade appears set for a reshaping in the second half of 2025, driven by pricing dynamics, rising demand and geopolitical sourcing strategies.