India summarizes its vegetable oil imports for the MY 2024/25

India’s vegetable oil imports in the MY 2024/25 remained unchanged at 16.3 million tonnes, matching the previous year’s level. According to the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), the country imported 1.33 million tonnes of edible oils and 4,625 tonnes of non-edible oils in October, a 9% decrease compared to the same month last year.

Soybean oil imports reached a record 5.47 million tonnes, surpassing the previous high of 4.23 million tonnes set in 2015/16. In contrast, palm oil imports fell sharply to 7.58 million tonnes from 9.02 million tonnes a year earlier, while soft oil imports rose from 6.95 million tonnes to 8.43 million tonnes, driven by higher soybean oil purchases.

Palm oil’s share of total imports dropped from 56% to 47%, while the share of soft oils increased to 53% from 44%. The market was also influenced by India’s tariff policy: in May, the government widened the duty gap between crude and refined oils to 19.25%, effectively halting imports of refined palm oil. Meanwhile, India imported 750,000 tonnes of refined soybean and sunflower oils from Nepal under a zero-duty trade agreement.

Indonesia remained the top supplier of crude palm oil with 2.75 million tonnes, followed by Malaysia with 2.62 million tonnes. Argentina led soybean oil exports to India with 2.89 million tonnes, followed by Brazil with 1.14 million tonnes. Russia maintained its position as the leading supplier of sunflower oil, shipping 1.47 million tonnes. As of November 1, India’s total vegetable oil stocks stood at 1.73 million tonnes, down from 1.99 million tonnes the previous month.

The oil marketing year in India runs from November through October.

Tags: India, imports, edible oils