India’s soybean oil imports doubled in December

India’s palm oil imports fell sharply in December as cheaper soybean oil from South America gained market share in the world’s largest edible oil importing country, industry data showed on Tuesday. Soybean oil imports more than doubled to 420,000 tons in December 2024 from 152,600 tons a year earlier, according to data from the Edible Oils Association of India (SEA).

SEA executive director B V Mehta said the shift came amid a decline in exports of Malaysian palm oil, prompting consumers to switch to more competitive South American soybean oil.

“Significant price discounts are facilitating the rapid absorption of surplus soybean oil while mitigating palm oil shortages,” Mehta said.

Palm oil’s market share fell to 42% in December 2024, while refined oils including soybean oil and sunflower oil took 58% of imports. Sunflower oil imports rose marginally to 264,800 tons from 260,800 tons in December 2023.

Total vegetable oil imports fell marginally to 1.23 million tons in December 2024 from 1.31 million tons a year earlier.

Recall that India buys palm oil mainly in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and soybean and sunflower oil – in Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine and rf. Earlier it became known that the global palm and soybean oil sector considers India as its main target market in 2025.

Tags: imports, sunflower oil, soybean oil, India, palm oil