India’s vegetable oil imports hit multi-month lows in September

India’s palm oil imports in September fell by nearly a third from the previous month, hitting a six-month low, as a sharp rise in tropical oil prices made it more expensive than competing oils and forced refiners to postpone purchases, The Edge Malaysia reported, citing dealers.

They estimated that India’s palm oil imports in September fell 34% from the previous month to 530,000 tons. Last month palm oil became more expensive than soybean and sunflower oil. At the same time, India increased import duties, which forced some refiners to cancel contracts. Palm oil is usually sold at a discount compared to other oils, but is now being offered at a premium for October shipments.

Soybean oil imports in September were down 15% from the previous month at 388,000 tons.

Sunflower oil imports fell 49% to 145,000 tons, the lowest in 10 months, dealers said.

The drop in palm, soybean and sunflower oil imports led to a 31% drop in the country’s total edible oil imports to 1.06 million tons, dealers estimated.

Reduced purchases by the world’s largest importer of vegetable oils could lead to higher palm oil stocks at major producers in Indonesia and Malaysia, putting pressure on benchmark contract futures prices.

The Indian Oil Producers Association (SEA) is likely to release its import data for September by mid-October.

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