Industry body Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) in its latest report has stated that India's edible oil imports declined by 34% to 7,90,377 tonne during April 2020, as compared to 11,98,763 tonne during April 2019, mainly due to logistics related issues during the lockdown. It added that import of palm oils showed a drastic decline in April, while shipment of soft oils like soybean and sunflower oils rose.
Among palm oils, import of RBD palmolein fell 87% to 29,750 tonne in April 2020 from 2,38,479 tonne in the year-ago month after the commodity was placed under a restrictive list of imports on January 8, 2020. Last year, Malaysia had shipped excessive RBD palmolein to India taking the benefit of lower duty concession.
It noted that even import of crude palm oil and crude palm kernel oil registered 14% drop in inbound shipments during November-April period due to slump in demand during the lockdown period. According to SEA, the decline in palm oil imports has led to rise in shipments of soft oils. Soybean and sunflower oils imports rose by 13% and 12%, respectively in the six-month period, thanks to household demand for consumer packs.
However, total shipment of edible oils fell by 14 per cent to 61,82,184 tonne during November-April period of the 2019-20 oil year from 72,03,830 tonne in the year-ago same months. The oil year runs from November to October. Meanwhile, India imports palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, and a small quantity of crude soft oil, including soybean oil from Argentina. Sunflower oil is imported from Ukraine and Russia.