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India's soybean oil imports rose 24% to 352,000 tonnes in March, while sunflower oil imports fell 15.5% to 193,000 tonnes, marking their lowest level in six months.
Palm oil imports also climbed 13.2% month-on-month to 423,000 tonnes in March, though they remained below normal levels for the fourth consecutive month, as the price gap with rival soybean oil prompted refiners to increase their purchases of the latter, according to The Edge Malaysia.
According to data from the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA), due to be released in mid-April, India imported an average of more than 750,000 tonnes of palm oil per month during the 2023/24 marketing year, which ended in October 2024.
Rajesh Patel, managing partner at vegetable oil trading firm GGN Research, said: "Palm oil has been costlier than soybean oil over the past few months, and this has curbed underlying demand for it."
The rise in palm and soybean oil supplies pushed India's total vegetable oil imports up 9.3% month-on-month to 968,000 tonnes in March, following a February that saw the lowest import volume in four years.
Source: Al Mal Forum