India cut sunflower oil imports by 22% in July

India’s palm and soybean oil imports surged to the highest level in a year in July as oil refiners increased purchases after a price correction and in anticipation of a potential import duty hike, six dealers said on Friday.

Increased palm oil purchases by the world’s biggest importer of vegetable oils will help reduce inventories at top producers in Indonesia and Malaysia and support benchmark prices.

The dealers estimated palm oil imports in July rose 39 percent from the previous month to 1.09 million tons, the highest since August 2023.

According to Rajesh Patel, managing partner of edible oil trader and broker GGN Research, palm oil refining margins were positive in May and June, during which most buyers placed orders for July shipments.

Soybean oil imports for the month rose 43% to 394,000 tons, the highest in 13 months, dealers said.

According to Sandeep Bajoria, CEO of vegetable oil brokerage Sunvin Group, imports were also supported by expectations of duty hikes in the budget, prompting buyers to increase purchases.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year last week, though she made no changes to the duty structure on edible oils.

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

According to dealers, imports of sunflower oil in July decreased by 22 percent compared to the record supplies of the previous month and amounted to 364 thousand tons.

Dealers estimated that a surge in palm and soybean oil imports pushed the country’s total edible oil imports up 21 percent to 1.85 million tons, the second highest on record.

India imported an average of 1.2 million tons of edible oil in the current marketing year.

“July’s import volumes could have been a record high, but eight to 10 days of mooring delays at Kandla port prevented them from reaching that level,” said GGN Research’s Patel.

Industry body SEA is likely to release its import data for July by mid-August.

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