Vegetable oils import rises 28 pc in Dec to 15.66 lakh tonnes; shipments of palm oil surge

New Delhi: India's imports of vegetable oils, comprising edible and non-edible oils, rose 28 per cent to 15.66 lakh tonnes in December, driven by higher shipments of refined palmolein and crude palm oil.

In a statement, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said the import of vegetable oils during December 2022 stood at 15,66,129 tonnes compared to 12,26,686 tonnes a year ago.

As per the data, the import of edible or cooking oils increased to 15,55,780 tonnes from 12,16,863 tonnes, while the shipments of non-edible oils rose to 10,349 tonnes from 9,832 tonnes.

In the edible oil category, the import of refined (RBD) palmolein surged to 2,56,398 tonnes in December 2022 from only 24,000 tonnes in the year-ago period. The imports of crude palm oil (CPO) rose to 8,43,849 tonnes against 5,28,143 tonnes.

The vegetable oil year runs from November to October.

During November-December 2022, the import of vegetable oils increased by 30 per cent to 31,11,669 tonnes compared to 24,00,433 tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The imports of refined palmolein and CPO (crude palm oil) increased sharply during November-December 2022.

The data showed that 4,58,646 tonnes of refined oils (all of its RBD palmolein) were imported during November-December 2022 compared to 82,267 tonnes in the year-ago period.

Similarly, SEA said that 26,25,894 tonnes of crude oil were imported in the last two months compared to 22,73,419 tonnes in November-December 2021.

As a result, the share of refined oils jumped to 15 per cent from 3 per cent while crude oils share declined to 85 per cent from 97 per cent compared to the previous year.

Indonesia and Malaysia are the major suppliers of RBD Palmolein and Crude Palm Oil to India. The country imports soyabean oil from Argentina and Brazil.

India imports around 60 per cent of its total domestic demand for cooking oils.

"During November-December 2022, Palm Oil import sharply increased to 22,50,924 tonnes from 1,105,582 tonnes, while Soft Oil import has decreased to 8,33,616 tonnes from 12,50,104 tonnes in November-December 2021," SEA said.

Share of palm oil increased to 73 per cent from 47 per cent while soft oils decreased to 27 per cent from 53 per cent.