Veg oil imports up 27% in April on lower domestic crushing

India's vegetable oil import jumped 27% in April on rising consumption from retailconsumers and lower lean season crushing locally. Data compiled by the apex industry body the Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA) showed India's veg oil import at 832,760 tonnes in April this year as compared to 654,827 tonnes in the corresponding period last year.

During the first half of the current oilyear (November 2013 - October 2014), however, import of veg oil covered earlier loss to record a marginal 2% decline overall. In the period between November 2013 and April 2014, veg oil imports stood at 5.16 million tonnes as against 5.28 million tonnes recorded in the same period last year.

The data reveals a turnaround in sentiment. Veg oil refineries opted to build inventories of crudeoil now rather than import refined oil earlier due to positive refining margins. That resulted into crude oil import rising to 90% in Aprilthis year, the highest ever.BV Mehta, executive director of SEA, had earlier said, "There is a difference between Indian and global prices. So, importing oil is attractive. This has affectedcrushing."

Arrivals have seen a hit in three months and have been lower 25% compared to last year's. Meanwhile, India's demand for edible oil is on the rise and is going up by eight to nine lakh tonnes every year due to rupee denominated increase in demand. Also, a majority ofthe crushers have shut shop for the moment, while the ones which are workingare only using 30% of their capacity.

This year, India's crushing has hit a four year low due to soybean not being available for crushing which hasalso caused imports to increase. However, non edible oil imports in April stood at lowest levels according to SEA 13,325 tonnes compared to 13,500 tonnes last year. Since November to April, India'snon edible oil imports stood was down by 35% to 91,899 tonnes.