Lower global prices increases palm oil import by 23%

Aadhira Anandh | The Dollar Business

India’s palm oil imports in June have gone up by 23% from the year earlier. Last year the palm oil exports was 4,931, 085 tonnes, while this year the import has gone up to 734, 358 tonnes thus lifting the vegetable oil import in the month by 15%. The Solvent Extractors Association in a statement said that the rise in import is on the account of lower global price. Palm oil makes up 70% of the country’s vegetable oils import and over 60% of the demand for the vegetable oil market in India is met through imports. “We largely import palm oil because of the increasing demand and also for better quality. In India, the quality of the oil is not good to meet the demand in the market,” Narsimha Rao, Plant manager, Parison Group of Companies told The Dollar Business. Talking about the rise in imports Rao added, “India has always been a place where the demand for vegetable oils is on a vast scale. The import of these oils always depended upon the market. So when the rate of other oils like coconut oil increases people would prefer a cheaper one for their daily use. This would in turn increase the imports.” Import of vegetable oil saw an upward surge of 25% during the November 2014 to June 2015. The import of vegetable oil during June 2015 is 1,016,297 while it was 883,679 tone in June 2014. In one year, there has been a 15% rise in the imports of vegetable oil. The report also revealed that the major reason of this huge import is due to the fall in the international prices. For example, the price of RBD palmolein have surged down by 19%, crude palm oil (CPO) by 22%, crude soybean oil by 17% and crude sunflower oil by 2% in the last one year. It is also noted that the rupee has also depreciated by 6.8%. During the November-June period of 2014-15 year, vegetable oil imports swelled up to 88,49,821 tonnes from 70,82,220 tonnes an year ago. India largely imports oil from Indonesia, Malaysia, Latin America Ukraine and Russia.    

July 16, 2015 | 7:13 pm IST.