India’s edible oil import rose 38.5 per cent to 15.9 lakh tonne in November mainly due to sharp jump in shipments of crude sunflower oil and crude soyabean oil, according to industry data.
On Thursday, Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) released the data of import of vegetable oil (edible and non-edible ) for November.
As per the data, import of vegetable oils during November, the first month of the 2024-25 oil marketing year, rose 40 per cent to 16,27,642 tonne compared to 11,60,590 tonne a year ago.
Out of total vegetable oil import, India imported 15,90,301 tonne of edible oil in November as against 11,48,092 tonne in the same month last year. Import of non-edible oils increased to 37,341 tonne compared to 12,498 tonne in November 2023.
Oil marketing year runs from November to October.
In edible oil category, the import of RBD palmolein during November 2024 increased to 2,84,537 tonne compared to 1,71,069 tonne in the year-ago period.
Import of crude sunflower oil sharply increased to 3,40,660 tonne from 1,28,707 tonne while shipments of crude soyabean oil jumped to 407,648 tonne from 149,894 tonne during the period under review.
However, imports of crude palm oil declined to 5,47,309 tonne last month from 6,92,423 tonne in November 2023.
Last month, the palm oil import (including crude and refined) decreased to 8,41,993 tonne from 8,69,491 tonne in the year-ago period. Soft oil import increased to 7,48,308 tonne from 2,78,601 tonne in November 2023. Share of palm oil decreased to 53 per cent from 76 per cent while soft oils increased to 47 per cent from 24 per cent.
Indonesia and Malaysia are the major suppliers of RBD palmolein and crude palm oil to India.
Soyabean oil is mainly imported from Argentina, Brazil and Russia while sunflower oil is imported from Russia, Ukraine and Argentina.