India’s sunflower oil imports up 10% in January

India’s imports of edible oils fell to 1 million tons in January 2025, down 16% from December last year and the lowest in eleven months.

The drop is due to a decline in palm oil purchases, volumes of which fell by almost half to 272,000 tons (-46% to December 2024), to the lowest level since March 2011, Reuters cited data. In contrast, imports of sunflower and soybean oils are on the rise. India’s soybean oil imports in January were the highest in seven months at 438,000 tons (+4%). Sunflower oil shipments increased by 10% to 280 thousand tons.

Palm oil imports to India had earlier hit a 5-year low as a result of rising tropical oil prices amid a decline in stocks and processing in major producing countries. The share of palm oil in India’s edible oil imports fell below 30% for the first time in a decade.

The main suppliers of palm oil to India were Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while soybean and sunflower oil were supplied by Argentina, Brazil, russia and Ukraine.

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