India’s palm oil imports plunge to lowest in 14-yrs

India’s palm oil imports in January dropped to a 14-year low due to refiners switching to cheaper soyoil amid negative refining margins for palm oil, according to a top trade body on Wednesday.

Reduced palm oil imports by India, the largest purchaser of vegetable oils globally, are expected to put pressure on Malaysian palm oil prices and boost US soyoil futures.

Palm oil imports in January dropped by 45 per cent from December to 275,241 metric tons, marking the lowest volume since March 2011, according to the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA).

According to the SEA, India imported over 750,000 tons of palm oil on average per month in the marketing year that concluded in October 2024.

While palm oil typically trades at a lower price compared to soyoil and sunflower oil, decreasing stocks have caused its prices to surpass those of competing oils, which have ample supplies.

In January, imports of soyoil increased by 5.6 per cent to 444,026 tons, marking the highest level in seven months. Additionally, sunflower oil imports rose by 8.9 per cent to 288,284 tons, according to the industry body.

A decrease in palm oil shipments led to a 14.8 per cent reduction in the country’s total vegetable oil imports in January, totaling 1 million tons, the lowest in 11 months, according to the SEA.

This decline in imports has also brought down vegetable oil inventories to 2.18 million tons at the beginning of February, the lowest level since April 2022, as reported by the SEA.

Attribution: Reuters

Subediting: M. S. Salama