India to Remain Malaysia’s Palm Oil Buyer

With India at nearly 70 percent import dependent for edible oils, the country would continue to buy refined palm oil from Malaysia despite the proposal by its government to further increase import taxes, a move that it believes would lift local processing and cut dependence on overseas purchases, Dr Sathia Varga, owner and co-founder of Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics, told Bernama last week.  

However, due to the lower prices of Indonesian crude palm oil (CPO), which trades st a US$20-$30 discount to Malaysian CPO, India will buy more from Indonesia than Malaysia, he said. He expects India to buy 10.20 million tons of palm oil in 2020, up from an estimated 9.50 million tons in 2019. India is the largest palm oil importer in the world.  Last year alone, it imported nine million tons of palm oil worth RM23.02 billion, with 2.51 million tons imported from Malaysia.  India accounts for 15 percent of Malaysia’s total palm oil exports.