India's edible oil imports decline 32.44% to 9,41,219 tonne in March: SEA

07 Apr 2020 Evaluate

The Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) in its latest report has said that India's edible oil imports declined 32.44% to 9,41,219 tonne in March 2020 as compared to 13,93,255 tonne imported in March last year. This was mainly due to government restrictions on purchase of refined palm oil from the overseas market. Besides, the share of palm oil is more than 60% of the country's total vegetable oil imports.

As per the SEA data, there was a 90% fall in import of RBD palmolein at 30,850 tonne in March this year, as compared to 3,12,673 tonne in the year-ago period. Import of RBD (refined, bleached, deodorized) palmolein has reduced drastically as the commodity has been put on ‘restricted list’ of trade since January 8. Putting the palm oil in a restricted category means an importer will require licence or permission for the inbound shipment.

SEA further said import of crude palm oil (CPO) and crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) have declined 38% to 3,04,458 tonne during March this year from 4,89,770 tonne a year ago. Import of soyabean oil declined marginally to 2,92,410 tonne in March this year from 2,92,925 tonne in same period last year, while that of sunflower oil to Rs 2,96,501 tonne from 2,97,887 tonne in the said period.

During the November-March period of the 2019-20 oil year (November to October), total edible oils imports declined 10% to 53,91,807 tonne from 60,05,067 tonne in the year-ago period. SEA also mentioned that it was unable to compile the data for import of non-edible oils in the current lockdown situation. It added that this is an interim provisional data and a complete import data will be released once the situation returns to normalcy.

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