India’s cooking (vegetable) oil imports rose by 6.23% to 12.48 lakh tonnes (LT) in November this year. As per data compiled by industry body Solvent Extractors Association (SEA), this jump is due to higher shipment of crude sunflower and soyabean oil. Cooking oil imports had stood at 11.75 LT in the year-ago period.
Among edible oils, crude oil imports rose to 5,59,584 tonnes in November 2017 as against 5,57,364 tonnes in the same period last year. Soyabean oil imports increased substantially to 2,73,928 tonnes from 1,64,286 tonnes, while that of sunflower oil shipments rose to 1,93,810 tonnes from 1,58,071 tonnes in the said period.
Similarly, import of RBD palmolein remained lower at 1,47,362 tonnes in November this year compared to 2,40,948 tonnes in the year-ago, while import of canola oil increased to 40,609 tonnes from 32,195 tonnes in the said period.