India’s palm oil import rises 2.25% in April

Palm oil import rose 2.25 per cent to 752,632 tonnes in April on higher shipments of crude palm oil (CPO), industry body Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) said on Tuesday.

India, the world’s leading vegetable oil buyer, had imported 736,036 tonnes of palm oil in April 2016. The country’s total vegetable oil import grew by seven per cent to 1,339,489 tonnes in April this year, from 1,248,887 tonnes in the year-ago period. Palm oils comprise 62 per cent of the total vegetable oil import. However, import of vegetable oils in the first six months of the ongoing 2016-17 oil year ending October has dropped to 4,302,135 tonnes, from 4,340,890 tonnes in the year ago.

According to SEA, the difference between the landed price of two palm oils — RBD palmolein and CPO — has narrowed, encouraging the shipment of CPO this month. Also, strengthening of the rupee in the last three months supported the import of vegetable oils.

Among palm oil products, import of CPO went up to 511,139 tonnes in April this year, from 398,606 tonnes in the year-ago period.

However, the shipment of RBD palmolein fell to 232,243 tonnes, from 325,902 tonnes, while that of import of crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) fell to 9,250 tonnes, from 11,528 tonnes in the said period, the SEA said in a statement.

Among soft oils, import of sunflower oil increased sharply to 234,516 tonnes in April this year, from 100,750 tonnes in the year earlier.

The shipment of soyabean oil, however, dropped to 304,942 tonnes from the earlier 348,195 tonnes while that of rapeseed-mustard oil too declined to 31,924 tonnes, from 51,087 tonnes.

“Importers continue to make larger import of sunflower oil, taking advantage of attractive price vis-a-vis soyabean oil,” the SEA said.

As of May 1, the stock of edible oils at various ports was estimated to be over 21.20 lakh tonnes, that is equal to meeting 39 days requirements. India’s monthly requirement is about 1.65 million tonnes, it added.

India imports palm oil, mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, and a small quantity of crude soft oils, including soyabean oil from Latin America. Sunflower oil is imported from Ukraine and Russia.