India’s Edible Oil Import an 8-Month High in June

The country’s edible oil import rose 8 percent to an eight-month high of 1.16 million tons in June, even as palm oil shipments declined sharply, said the Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) in India, a Mumbai-based trade body. India, the world’s leading vegetable oil buyer, imported 1.07 million tons edible oil during the same month last year.  However, in the November-June period of the 2019-20 oil year (which begins in November), edible oil import had declined 15 percent year-on-year  to 8.05 million tons from 9.4 million tons mainly because of a fall in shipments of RBD (refined, bleached and deodorized) palmolein, SEA said. 
   
Of the total import in June, palm oil’s share was 0.56 million tons, while that of soft oil was nearly 0.6 million tons. Import of palm oil which comprises more than 60 percent of total edible oil shipments showed a decline of 18.04 percent in June this year, from 0.68 million tons a year ago. In the palm oil segment, import of RBD palmolein declined sharply to only 3,000 tons in June this year, from 0.25 million tons a year ago.

Among soft oils, sunflower oil import increased to 0.26 million tons in June from 0.16 million tons in a similar month last year, and that of soybean oil increased to 0.33 million tons from 0.22 million tons.  “For the first time, the import of soft oil in June is higher than palm oil since import started in 1994; the ratio between soft oil and palm oil is 52:48,” SEA said.