A surge in palm oil imports led to the overall increase in edible oil imports during July.
According to the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), India imported 18.40 lakh tonnes of edible oils in July 2024 compared with 17.55 lt in July 2023, recording a growth of 4.8 per cent. India imported 15.27 lt of edible oils in June 2024.
BV Mehta, Executive Director of SEA, said India imported a record quantity of 10.81 lt of palm oil in July 2024, the highest since November 2022, when imports stood at 11.41 lt in a single month.
Congestion at Kandla ports
Large influx of imports in July was in anticipation of the upcoming festival season in India. This surge led to congestion at Kandla port, causing berthing delays of 8-10 days, he said.
India imported a total of 119.35 lt of edible oils in the first nine months of the oil year 2023-24 (November-October) against 121.22 lt in the corresponding period of the oil year 2022-23, recording a decline of 1.54 per cent.
Imports of edible oils dropped significantly by 23.14 per cent in the first quarter of the oil year 2023-24, due to the improved domestic availability. However, in the second quarter, imports saw a slight increase of 5 per cent. The third quarter witnessed a substantial surge in import of edible oils, jumping by 18.07 per cent, driven by a large influx in July 2024.
Refined vs crude
India imported 15.18 lt of refined oil (RBD palmolein) in the first nine months of the oil year 2023-24 against 16.40 lt imported during the same period last year, a decline of 7 per cent. The country imported 104.16 lt of crude edible oils compared to 104.81 lt in the corresponding period of the oil year 2022-23.
Overall palm oil (including RBD palmolein and crude palm oil) imports declined to 68.45 lt in the first three quarters of the oil year 2023-24 from 71.17 lt in the corresponding period of the oil year 2022-23.
However, import of soft oils increased to 50.90 lt in the first nine months of the oil year 2023-24 from 50.04 lt in the corresponding period of the previous oil year. While import of soyabean oil decreased to 22.59 lt in the first nine months of the current oil year (28.24 lt in the nine-month period of oil year 2022-23), import of sunflower oil increased to 28.30 lt (21.80 lt) during the same period.
Major exporters
Indonesia and Malaysia are the primary suppliers of RBD palmolein and crude palm oil (CPO) to India. During November-July 2023-24, Indonesia exported 24.94 lt of CPO and 13 lt of RBD palmolein. Malaysia followed it with 20.71 lt of CPO and 2.13 lt of RBD palmolein.
India imported 13.52 lt of crude soyabean degummed oil from Argentina followed by 7.10 lt from Brazil.
The country imported 13.64 lt of crude sunflower oil from Russia, followed by 6.29 lt from Romania, 3.96 lt from Ukraine, and 3.25 lt from Argentina.