India’s palm oil imports dropped to an eight-month low in December due to weaker end of year demand and increased purchases of rival oils such as soyabean and sunflower oil, according to a report.
Lower palm oil imports by India, the world’s largest buyer of vegetable oils, could lift inventories in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia, weighing on benchmark Malaysian palm oil futures, while supporting US soyabean oil futures, the 6 January report said, citing a Reuters article quoting five dealers.
Indian palm oil imports fell 20% month-on-month in December to 507,000 tonnes, the lowest level since April 2025, according to estimates from dealers.
Meanwhile, soyabean oil imports surged by 37% to 508,000 tonnes, and sunflower oil imports more than doubled to a 17-month high of 350,000 tonnes, according to dealer estimates.
India’s total edible oil imports in December increased by 19% from the previous month to a three-month high of 1.37M tonnes due to higher imports of soyabean oil and sunflower oil, the estimates indicated.
The import figures excluded duty-free shipments that had arrived via land borders from Nepal, they added.
India imported an average of about 632,000 tonnes/month of palm oil during the marketing year ending in October 2025, according to the Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) of India, which expects to publish its December import data by mid-January.
Palm oil demand had remained weak due to the winter months and improved availability of domestic edible oils such as groundnut oil, soyabean oil and cottonseed oil, Rajesh Patel, managing partner at edible oil trader GGN Research at Rajkot, Gujarat, was quoted as saying.
India’s palm oil imports typically decline during the winter months, as the tropical oil solidifies at lower temperatures, limiting its use in northern parts of the country, according to the report.
India mainly buys palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia and imports soyabean and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.
Palm oil imports were likely to rise in January, while soyabean oil and sunflower oil imports could drop, as palm oil was trading at a discount to the two rival oils at the time of the report, Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of vegetable oil brokerage and consultancy firm the Sunvin Group, was quoted as saying.