Indian Vegetable Oils Import Up in August

India’s vegetable oils import in August (edible and non-edible) totaled 1,866,123 MT, according to data from the Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) of India.  This is 33% higher than August last year at 1,401,233 MT.  Of this total, edible oil was 1,852,115 MT and non-edible oil 14,008 MT.  Low domestic prices of edible oils have returned demand, which is evident from the rising import despite better domestic availability reflective of July data, SEA said.  
The cumulative figure for the first 10 months of the oil year 2022-23 (November 2022-August 2023) was 14,121,076 MT, increasing by 24% from 11,376,226 MT at the same time a year ago.   During the period, import of palm oil products (RBD palm olein, crude palm oil, crude palm olein, crude palm kernel oil) totaled 8,246,189 MT, topping by 41% a similar period year-ago at 5,856,119 MT.  On the other hand, soft oils to include soybean and sunflower oils, which totaled 5,728,637 MT showed a slower rise of 10% over 5,214,188 MT previously. The share of palm oil thus increased to 59% from 53% while the share of soft oils decreased to 41% from 47%.
Indonesia and Malaysia remained the major suppliers of RBD palm olein and crude palm oil (CPO) to India.  During the 10-month period, Indonesia was top supplier of CPO at 3,127,971 MT, followed by Malaysia at 2,149,333 MT, and Thailand at 671,345 MT.  It was also leading shipper of RBD palm olein at 1,593,722 MT, trailed by Malaysia at 297,519 MT and Thailand at 11,499 MT.  On the other hand, Malaysia led in crude palm kernel oil at 55,092 MT, tracked by Thailand at 19,006 MT and Indonesia at 6,100 MT.
Soybean oil imports came largely from Argentina at 1,688,039 MT and Brazil at 1,213,612 MT.  Major source of sunflower oil was Russia at 821,763 MT, followed by Ukraine at 487,304 MT and Argentina at 357,852 MT.