Modi’s call to cut edible oil consumption unlikely to hurt Ukrainian exports for now

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the country’s population to reduce edible oil consumption amid rising global energy prices and pressure on India’s foreign currency reserves. He described the move as a “healthy and patriotic” step. India is the world’s largest importer of vegetable oils and the biggest buyer of Ukrainian sunflower oil.

For Ukraine, Modi’s statements are important because the Indian market remains one of the key destinations for sunflower oil exports. Any signals about possible reductions in consumption or imports may affect trader sentiment and global price dynamics.

However, the market currently sees no real signs of declining Indian edible oil imports. This was stated by Serhiy Repetskyi, managing partner at Sunstone Brokers. According to him, India is not even among the world’s top 10 countries in terms of per capita edible oil consumption.

“Modi’s appeal has nothing to do with health. When there is not enough gas to cook food, he simply found a way out by urging people to consume less oil,” Repetskyi said. In his view, the Indian prime minister’s statement is primarily linked to energy savings and efforts to stabilize the domestic market.

The expert also noted that demand for imported oils in India remains stable, and meaningful changes would likely occur only if the government introduced direct regulatory measures such as higher import duties or technical restrictions. Therefore, Ukrainian exporters currently do not expect Modi’s statements to significantly affect sunflower oil shipments to India.