India's vegetable oil import declines 4% in Dec

India's import of vegetable oil declines by 4.4 per cent to 7.52 lakh tonnes in December, 2010, according to a trade body.

According to the data compiled by Solvent Extractor's Association  of India (SEA), the country had imported 7.87 lakh tonnes of vegetable oil in December 2009.

During the month under consideration, the import of edible oils decline by nearly four per cent to 7.30 lakh tonnes compared to 7.61 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period, a year ago, SEA said.

The import of non-edible oils also declined by over 12 per cent in December last year to 22,494 tonnes against 25,588 tonnes in the same period year ago.

The total import of vegetable oils in the first two months of the current oil year (November, 2010 to October 2011) declined by eight per cent to 14.21 lakh tonnes compared to 15.41 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period, an year ago.

India, the world's largest importer of edible oil.

The country imports palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia and a small quantity of soyabean oil from Argentina and Brazil.