India’s edible oil import rise 39% in June as RBD palmolein shipments zoom
India’s imports of edible oil increased by 39.11 percent year-on-year in June to 13.11 thousand tons (liters) compared to 9.41 liters in June 2022.
Available data from the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) showed that India’s imports of edible oil rose to 103.66 liters in the first eight months of the 2022-23 oil year (November-October) compared to 84.90 liters in the previous year, registering a rise of 22.11% in the previous year. Cent.
PV Mehta, CEO of SEA, said demand for edible oil has returned to the market with the sharp decline in domestic prices of edible oils. This is evident from the increase in imports, despite their better domestic availability, which was reflected in the June data.
Importing palm oil products
He said that the import of crude palm oil amounted to 4.66 liters in June, compared to 3.48 liters in May. RBD palm imports jumped to 2.17 liters in June from 85,000 tons in the previous month. Total imports of palm products rebounded sharply in June compared to May.
Imports of palm oil products from Indonesia increased to 4.77 liters in June 2023 compared to 1.31 liters in June 2022. Imports of palm oil products from Malaysia decreased to 1.55 liters in June 2023 compared to 3.60 liters in June 2022.
Noting that the import of refined oils will increase rapidly, he said that the total share of refined oils (RBD palmolein) was 14 percent of the total import of edible oils during the first eight months of the oil year 2022-23. It was at 5 percent in the 2020-21 oil year, and 3 percent in the 2019-20 oil year. He said this seriously affects the local palm oil refining industry.
The import of palm products (including CPO and RBD palmolein) increased to 60.31 liters during the period from November to June 2022-23 compared to 43.30 liters last year. After that, the share of palm oil products in total edible oil imports increased to 58 percent during the first eight months of 2022-23, against 51 percent.
Noting that Thailand is emerging as a regular supplier of CPO to India, Mehta said that India imported 6.71 liters of CPO and 11,499 tons of RBD palmolein during the period.
The arrival of shipments of soft oils
Total imports of soft oils rose to 43.35 liters, compared to 41.59 liters a year earlier. He attributed the sharp increase in shipments of sunflower and soybean oils in the past three months to this growth.
However, the share of soft oils in total edible oil imports fell to 42 percent from 49 percent.
India imported 13.48 liters of degummed soybean oil from Argentina, and 9.73 liters from Brazil during the period from November to June. Russia exported 5.37 liters of crude sunflower oil, Ukraine 4.09 liters, and Argentina 2.33 liters during the first eight months of the 2022-23 oil year.