Vegetable oil imports rose by 35 per cent to 8.96 lakh tonnes (lt) in May from 6.64 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period, according to the industry data released by the Solvent Extractors Association of India.
Imports of edible oil this May stood at 8.83 lt, while that of non-edible oils were 13,511 tonnes in the same period, it said.
Oil year runs from November to October. In the first seven months of the current oil year, imports rose by 31 per cent to 56.11 lt against 42.67 lt in the November-May period of the 2010-11 oil year.
Meanwhile, excessive imports during the peak crushing season have led to a record stock of 16.90 lt piling up at ports and in the pipeline, which is almost equal to 40 days requirement, the association said.
It said import of refined palm oil will increase further on account of the Indonesian duty structure and decreasing gap in prices of crude palm oil (CPO) and refined palm oil (RBD palmolein).
“Share of RBD palmolein is likely to increase as current Indonesian inverted duty structure encourages larger export of refined oils (nine per cent export duty) over crude oil (18 per cent export duty),” it pointed out. During November-May period of the 2011-12 oil year, imports of RBD palmolein rose by 97 per cent to 10.84 lt (5.51 lt).