India increased imports of palm and sunflower oil in May

Last month, India increased palm oil imports by more than 12% to 769,000 tons. This volume is the maximum since the beginning of January this year, market participants told Reuters.

They specify that demand for “palm” in the country has increased on the background of its competitive cost: about $948 per ton on a CIF basis (cost, insurance and freight) against $1028 for soybean oil and $1035 for sunflower oil.

“Meanwhile, palm oil imports will remain stable even in June. The country is likely to receive around 750,000 tons,” said Sunvin Group executive director Sandeep Bajoria.

However, imports of sunflower oil to India in May also increased (by 74%, up to 408 thousand tons), which was due to overloaded ports, which in April could not accept ships with these products.

In addition, according to market participants, imports of soybean oil in the reporting period, on the contrary, decreased – by 16.5%, to 322 thousand tons.

The main suppliers of palm oil for India are Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Soybean oil is mainly purchased by traders from Argentina and Brazil. Sunflower oil is purchased from Ukraine and Russia.

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