India’s October palm oil imports drop to five-month low, traders say

The drop in total shipments was due to buyers switching to soyabean oil following a rally in palm oil prices, according to the traders.

Lower palm oil imports by India, the world’s leading buyer of vegetable oils, could boost inventories in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia and pressure benchmark Malaysian palm oil futures, the 4 November report said.

India’s palm oil imports fell 27.6% in October month-on-month to 600,000 tonnes, the lowest volume since May, according to estimates from dealers.

In the 2024/25 marketing year ended in October, the country’s palm oil imports fell 16% to 7.56M tonnes, the lowest total in five years, they said.

Palm oil lost market share to soyabean oil after trading at a premium to other edible oils for several months, Rajesh Patel, managing partner at edible oil trader GGN Research, was quoted as saying.

Indian imports of soyabean oil fell by 17.1% in October compared to the previous month to 417,000 tonnes. In 2024/25, soyabean imports had surged by 61.6% to a record 5.56M tonnes, dealers said.

Sunflower oil imports dropped by 6.4% in October to 255,000 tonnes, bringing total imports for the full year to 2.88M tonnes, down 17.7% from the same month in the previous year, according to dealer estimates.

Total Indian edible oil imports in October dropped by 20.7% to 1.27M tonnes compared to the same period in the previous year due to lower imports of palm oil, the report said.

In 2024/25, edible oil imports rose by 0.3% compared to the previous year to 16M tonnes, dealers said.

Edible oil imports eased in October as refiners expected demand to slow in the coming months following the festival-season rush, said Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of Mumbai-based vegetable oil brokerage the Sunvin Group.

India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, and imports soyabean oil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine, according to the report.

Tags: imports, shipments, soyabean oil, sunflower oil, Indonesia, prices, India, Malaysia, palm oil