Edible oil imports rise 22% in first 6 months of current oil year
India’s imports of edible oils increased by 22.29 percent in the first six months of the 2022-23 oil year (November to October) after a significant rise in imports of palm oil and sunflower oil during the period.
According to the data available from Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA), the country imported 80.02 lakh tons (litres) of Edible oil during the period from November to April compared to 65.43 liters in the same period last year.
Imports of palm products
PV Mehta, CEO of SEA, said that the import of palm products (including crude palm oil and RBD palmolein) rose to 49.09 liters during the November-April period of the 2022-23 oil year compared to 30.92 liters in November-April of 2021. -22. Attributing this increase to price parity, he said that the share of palm oil in total edible oils rose to 61 percent in the first six months of the 2022-23 oil year, from 49 percent a year earlier.
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RBD palm oil import rose to 11.10 liters in the first six months of the current year, compared to 9.20 liters. Crude palm oil (CPO) imports stabilized at 37.61 liters compared to 22.62 liters.
Indicating that the share of RBD palmolein in Total import of palm oil Mehta said that the palm oil refining industry in India suffers greatly from very low energy utilization due to excessive importation of RBD palm.
Sunflower oil shipments rise
There has been a jump in importing Sun flower oil In the first half of the current oil year. India imported 13.67 liters of sunflower oil as against 11.10 liters a year earlier, registering a growth of 23.12 percent. In fact, imports of sunflower oil increased to 2.49 liters in April compared to 1.48 liters in March. Mehta attributed this to an increase in the supply of oil with lower global prices compared to soybean oil and average consumer cost.
The CIF import price of crude sunflower oil was $1,036 per ton in April, compared to $1,108 in March. In April, the CIF import price of crude soybean oil and CPO were $1,049/ton and $1,039/ton, respectively.
Soybean oil imports declined
However, there was a decline in import Soybean oil. India imported 17.25 liters of soybean oil compared to 22.06 liters, recording a decrease of 21.80 percent.
Indonesia and Malaysia were the major suppliers of RBD palmolein and CPO to India during the first half of the 2022-23 oil year.
Indonesia exported 17.24 liters of coconut oil and 8.77 liters of palm RBD to India during the first six months of the 2022-23 oil year. It was followed by Malaysia with 12.98 liters of CPO and 2.05 liters of RBD palmolein, and Thailand with 5.73 liters of CPO and 11.499 tons of RBD palmolein.
India imported 9.53 liters of degummed soybean oil from Argentina and 7.02 liters from Brazil during this period.
During the first half of the 2022-23 oil year, Russia exported 3.73 liters of crude sunflower oil to India. It is followed by Ukraine with 3.40 liters and Argentina with 1.06 liters.