India's vegetable oil imports have fallen by 6 per cent during November 2016-April 2017 of the current oil year to 7.13 million tonnes compared with 7.57 mt reported in the same period last year.

The data compiled by the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) reflected increase in stocks at ports by 207,000 tonnes as on May 1, 2017 against the previous month.

However, vegetable oil imports during April 2017 was highest at 13,39,489 tonnes, up 7 per cent, against the same month last year. Imports during April consisted of 13,24,014 tonnes of edible oils and 15,475 tonnes of non-edible oils.

Notably, import of non-edible oils during November 2016-April 2017 was reported at 1,39,876 tonnes compared with 62,480 tonnes during the same period last year, showing an increase of 124 per cent on year-on-year basis.

Major non-edible oils include Palm Fatty Acid Distillate (PFAD), Palm Kernel Fatty Acid Distillate (PKFAD), Crude Palm Stearin (CPS) and Refined Bleached Deodorized (RBD) Palm Sterin.

Import of edible vegetable oils fell to 69,94,389 tonnes during November 2016-April 2017 from 75,06,229 tonnes in the same period last year, showing a decline of close to 7 per cent.

Further SEA noted that import of refined oils during November 2016-April 2017 continued to increase.

Refined oil imports stood at 1.37 mt during the period under review against 1.32 mt in the same period last year, while import of crude oils fell to 5.63 mt from 6.18 mt, showing a fall of close to 9 per cent.

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