India's vegetable oils import rises 11% in December 2018

Total stock at ports and in pipelines reported at 20.25 lakh tonnes as on 01 January 2019

India's import of vegetable oils (edible & non-edible) has increased 11% to 12.11 lakh tonnes in December 2018 from 10.89 lakh tonnes in December 2017, as per the data released by Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) of India. The edible oils import stood at 11.46 lakh tonnes and non-edible oils was 0.65 lakh tonnes.

The overall import of vegetable oils is reported at 23.45 lakh tonnes during November to December 2018 compared to 23.38 lakh tonnes during November to December 2017.

The stock of edible oils as on 1 January 2019 at various ports is estimated at 8.05 lakh tonnes (CPO 4.30 lakh tonnes, RBD Palmolein 1.50 lakh tonnes, Degummed Soybean Oil 0.80 lakh tonnes and Crude Sunflower Oil 1.45 lakh tonnes) and about 12.20 lakh tonnes in pipelines. Total stock at ports and in pipelines is reported at 20.25 lakh tonnes down from 21.91 lakh tonnes as on 1 December 2018.

India's monthly requirement is about 19.0 lakh tonnes and operates at 30 days stock against which currently holding stock over 20.25 lakh tonnes equal to 32 days requirements.

Import of refined oil (RBD Palmolein) decreased to 2.39 lakh tonnes during Nov.-Dec 2018, from 2.54 lakh tonnes in same period of last year, Also, Import of crude oil decreased to 19.80 lakh tonnes compared to 20.29 tons during the same period of last year.

Palm Oil import has increased to 15.04 lakh tonnes during Nov.-Dec 2018, from 14.40 lakh tonnes during the same period of last year. However, Soft Oils import decreased to 7.16 lakh tonnes from 8.44 lakh tonnes during the same period of last year.

Import of Non-edible oils is reported at 1.26 lakh tonnes during November & December 2018 compared to 0.54 lakh tonnes during the same period last year, showing an increase of 133% due to nil duty on P.F.A.D. and RBD Palm Stearin.

Ministry of Finance issued two Notification No.84/2018 Customs both dated 31 December 2018 reducing import duty on palm oil and also reducing the duty difference between crude and palm oil from 10% to 5% on palmolein to be imported from Malaysia. This has lead to overall reduction in effective duty by 4.4% for CPO, but in case of RBD Palmolein imported from Malaysia would be 9.9%. The duty reduction has reduced the effective duty difference between CPO & RBD Palmolein to just 5% against previous 10% as under:

SEA of India expects the duty changes to promote Indian import demand for palm oil at the expense of soft oils. The preferential rate will put Malaysian in a position to gain market share from Indonesia.

In last one year, in international market, prices of various edible oils have gone down in the range of 15% to 30% due to excess supply in the world market.

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