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India’s palm oil imports jumped in August to their highest level in more than a year, as competitive prices compared with soybean oil encouraged refiners to increase purchases ahead of the festival season, a leading trade body said on Monday.
Higher palm oil imports by India, the world’s largest vegetable oil buyer, are expected to help major producers such as Indonesia and Malaysia reduce inventories and support benchmark Malaysian palm oil futures.
The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) said India’s palm oil imports in August rose by 15.76% to 990,528 metric tonnes, the highest level since July 2024.
The trade body added that soybean oil imports fell by 25.27% to 367,917 tonnes, the lowest level in four months, while sunflower oil imports rose by 28.53% to 257,080 tonnes, the highest level in seven months.
SEA also said India imported 6,000 tonnes of canola oil in August for the first time in nearly five years.
The rise in palm oil and sunflower oil imports lifted India’s total edible oil imports in August by 4.7% month on month to 1.62 million tonnes, the highest level since July 2024.
A Mumbai-based trader at a global trading company said refiners are preparing for the upcoming festival season and that imports are expected to remain above 800,000 tonnes in September.
Demand for edible oils, especially palm oil, usually rises in India during the festival season because of higher consumption of sweets and fried foods.
India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, while soybean oil and sunflower oil are sourced from Argentina, Brazil, Russia, and Ukraine.
SEA said India imported 589,283 tonnes of duty-free edible oils from Nepal during the first nine months of the marketing year ending in October under a regional trade agreement.
Source: Reuters