Vegetable oils import down by bit in June 2022 over last year

NEW DELHI: More than a month after Indonesia lifted the ban on exports, India's June import of vegetable oils was reported at 991,650 tonnes in June this year compared to 9,96,014 tonnes in June 2021, down by 0.44 per cent, data showed on Wednesday.

According to the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEAI), the 991,650 tonnes imports this year comprised 941,471 tonnes of edible oils and 50,179 tonnes of non-edible oils.

Indonesian palm oil exports had plummeted to a 10 years low due to restrictions imposed on April 28 by the government, resulting in very high stock and full tanks at factories there. Market reports suggest stock is over 8.5 million tonnes, SEAI Executive Director B.V. Mehta said.

Indonesia was compelled to lift the ban on May 23 to reduce its overburden stock. It also reduced the export tax & levy to $488 from $575, which is expected to further reduce to stimulate more exports.

"This has increased export from Indonesia which has had a dampening effect on price in the world market. This can be seen in the continuous downfall in the last few weeks in palm oil prices in the international market," he said.

The overall import of vegetable oils during first eight months of oil year 2021-22, i.e. from November 2021 till June 2022 has been reported at 87,60,640 tonnes compared to 86,74,012 tonnes during the same period of last year, up by 1 per cent, data compiled by the SEAI said.

The total stock as on July 1 has increased by 7,000 tonnes to 22.56 lakh tonnes from 22.49 lakh tonnes as on June 1.

The import of RBD Palmolein jumped from 29,376 tonnes to 11,00,941 tonnes mainly due to high export levy on CPO ($575) and lower duty on RBD Palmolein ($408).

Indonesia and Malaysia are the major suppliers of palm oil to India. Between November 2021 and June 2022, Malaysia supplied 19,99,407 tonnes of CPO and 3,44,611 tonnes of RBD Palmolein. Indonesia supplied 6,43,199 tonnes of CPO and of 7,47,330 tonnes of RBD Palmolein.

In the case of crude soybean degummed oil, India mainly imported from Argentina (17,24,557 tonnes) and Brazil (7,20,313 tonnes), apart from about 1,59,815 tons from the US.