India’s palm oil imports hit 5-year low as soyoil purchases surge to file

India's palm oil imports slid to their lowest degree in 5 years in the course of the 2024/25 advertising and marketing yr, whereas purchases of soyoil soared to a file excessive as a widening worth premium made palm oil much less enticing to consumers, a number one business physique mentioned on Thursday.

Decrease palm oil imports by India, the world's greatest purchaser of vegetable oils, may increase inventories in high producers Indonesia and Malaysia and strain benchmark Malaysian palm oil futures.

Palm oil imports within the 2024/25 advertising and marketing yr led to October fell 15.9% from a yr in the past to 7.58 million metric tons, the bottom since 2019/20, the Solvent Extractors' Affiliation of India mentioned in an announcement.
Soyoil imports within the yr jumped 59% to a file 5.47 million tons, whereas sunflower oil purchases fell 16.3% to 2.9 million tons, the SEA mentioned.

For many of the advertising and marketing yr, palm oil traded at a premium to soyoil, prompting refiners to modify to soyoil, mentioned B.V. Mehta, government director of the SEA.

India's whole vegetable oil imports within the yr rose marginally to 16.36 million tons from the earlier yr's 16.23 million tons the SEA mentioned. Palm oil's share in India's whole vegetable oil imports dropped to a file low of 47% from 56% final yr, whereas soyoil and sunflower oil collectively gained floor, rising to a mixed share of 53% from 44%. India buys palm oil primarily from Indonesia and Malaysia, and imports soyoil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.

India's refined vegetable oil imports from Nepal rose sharply to a file 746,400 tons, because the Himalayan nation's exports get pleasure from duty-free entry underneath a regional commerce pact, Mehta mentioned.

India spent a file 1.61 trillion rupees on vegetable oil imports in 2024/25, surpassing final yr's 1.32 trillion rupees, the SEA mentioned.

In October, India's palm oil imports fell 27.7% from a month in the past to 602,381 tons, the bottom degree in 5 months, in keeping with the SEA. Soyoil imports fell 17.2% to 454,619 tons, whereas sunflower oil imports eased 5.4% to 260,548 tons.

India's whole edible oil imports dropped 20% month-on-month in October to 1.33 million tons, with refiners chopping again after heavy purchases in earlier months for the festive season.