India. Imports of sunflower oil in August increased by almost 12%

India’s vegetable oil imports in August rose to 1.87 million tons, up 33% y-o-y, as falling global oil prices and concerns about lower domestic oilseed yields boosted demand from the world’s largest buyer, the Society of Indian Oil Producers (SEA) trade organization reported on September 14.

“A significant correction in vegetable oil prices, coupled with a strong recovery in demand and threats to import supplies due to the closure of the Black Sea grain deal and potential risk to domestic oilseeds due to lower than expected monsoon rains, has led to a sequential increase in US vegetable oil imports,” Said Anilkumar Bagani, head of research at Sunvin Group, a Mumbai-based brokerage.

In the first 10 months of the current 2022-23 marketing year (November-October), India imported 14.12 mln tonnes of oil, up 24% y-o-y, and possibly approaching a record high annual import, according to SEA.

“We would not be surprised to see record imports of 16 million tons to 16.5 million tons in the current oil year. Previously, India’s highest imports were 15.1 million tons in 2016-17 MY,” SEA said on September 14.

Imports of palm oil, which accounts for a large share of India’s imports, rose to 1.13 million tons, up 13.7% from a year earlier and 4% from the 1.09 million tons imported in July, according to SEA.

India’s purchases of soybean oil increased by 4.56% month-on-month to 357,890 tons in August from 342,270 tons in July. According to SEA, imports in July 2022 amounted to 244 697 tons.

Imports of sunflower oil in August increased by almost 12% to 365,870 tons against 327,259 tons in the previous month, according to the SEA.

Purchases of sunflower oil in July 2022 amounted to 135,308 tons.

Brazil and Russia became the dominant sellers of soybean and sunflower oil to India in 2022-23 MY, compared to Argentina and Ukraine in previous years.

India imported 160,572 tons of sunflower oil from Russia in August, compared to 72,780 tons last year. India purchased 130,968 tons of soybean oil from Brazil in August, compared to 67,750 tons a year earlier.

Stock levels and prices

According to the SEA, total oilseed stocks, which include ports and pipeline stocks, also reached a record level of 3.74 million tons by September 1, up from 3.28 million tons a month earlier.

Of these, port stocks were preliminarily estimated at 1.46 million tons of palm oil, 383,000 tons of degummed soybean oil, and 296,000 tons of crude oil, SEA said on September 14.

According to the SEA, this import inflow is due to the current low duty of 5.5% on crude palm oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil, making India the main destination for excess oil supplies.

In August, the average price for crude palm oil in Indian ports on a CIF basis was $924 per ton, while crude soybean oil was $1056 per ton and crude sunflower oil was $1078 per ton, according to SEA.

Platts, a member of S&P Global Commodity Insights, estimated crude palm oil CFR on the West Coast of India on September 13 at $ 874 per ton, which is 7.1% lower than at the end of August.

Tags: sunflower oil, India