Palm oil imports of India decline 13.86% in August: SEA

14 Sep 2020 Evaluate

Industry body Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) has said that palm oil imports of India declined 13.86% to 7,34,351 tonne in August 2020, from 8,52,534 tonne in the same month last year. The decline was attributed to tightened norms on the shipment of RBD Palmolien. It added that the fall in imports of RBD Palmolein is helping the domestic industry to utilise the higher capacity.

Among palm oil products, import of crude palm oil (CPO) increased to 7,24,351 tonne in August from 5,87,329 tonne in the year-ago period. Import of crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) rose to 10,000 tonne from 7,500 tonne, while no shipments of RBD Palmolein were undertaken in the said period. Besides palm oils, the country also imported 5,74,054 tonne of soft oils -- soyabean oil, sunflower oil and canola.

Import of soyabean oil declined to 3,94,735 tonne in August 2020 from 4,40,704 tonne a year ago, while the shipment of sunflower oil fell to 1,58,518 tonne as against 2,30,023 tonne in the said period. About 20,801 tonne of canola oil was also imported in the period. Both palm and soft oils put together, the country's overall vegetable oils imports were at 13,70,457 tonne in August 2020, 14 per cent lower from 15,86,514 tonne in the year-ago period.

Citing demand destruction in view of COVID-19 pandemic, the SEA has projected that the country's overall vegetable oil imports could decline by 14-15 lakh tonne to around 134-135 lakh tonne in the 2019-20 oil year (November-October) against 149.1 lakh tonne in the previous year. It added as on September 1, there was higher edible oil stock of 17,31,000 tonne at various ports. The stock was rebuilt in the last three months, mainly due to higher import of edible oils.

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