Imports of vegetable oil to India will decrease by 6% in the new marketing year – forecast

India’s vegetable oil imports are likely to decline by 6% in the new marketing year starting in November due to higher carry-over stocks of oilseeds from the current year, a leading industry official said on Wednesday.

India, the world’s largest importer of vegetable oils, is likely to buy 15.6 million tons of vegetable oils in 2023-2024, down from 16.6 million this year as of Oct. 31, 2023, said Sandeep Bajoria, CEO of Sunvin Group, a Mumbai-based oilseed brokerage and consulting firm.

The country is likely to import 9.5 million tons of palm oil next year, down from 10 million in 2022-2023, he told the Global Vegetable Oil Conference in Mumbai.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Indian oil mills imported more than 1 million tons of palm oil in August, the second consecutive month of higher purchases to build stocks for the festival season that begins next month.

India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. It imports soybean and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.

India is likely to buy 3.2 million tons of soybean oil in 2023-2022, up from 3.5 million in 2022-2023, Bajoria said.

According to him, purchases of sunflower oil are expected to reach 2.9 million tons in 2023-2022, down from 3.1 million tons this year.

Bajoria said that carryover stocks of 1.2 to 1.5 million tons of soybeans and 1.2 to 1.4 million tons of rapeseed will help reduce vegetable imports next year.

The import stocks still stuck in ports will also increase local supplies, reducing imports next year, he said.

Tags: sunflower oil, soybean oil, India, palm oil