Palm oil imports drop 9.17 pc in April

Palm oil imports dropped 9.17 per cent to 7,07,450 tonnes during April this year, industry body Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) said Wednesday.

Imports of palm oil stood at 7,78,884 tonnes in April 2018.

Palm oil accounts for over 60 per cent of the country's total vegetable oil imports.

India's total vegetable oil imports also showed a decline of 11 per cent to 12.32 lakh tonnes in April from 13.86 lakh tonnes in the same month last year, it said in a statement.

"In last one year, global prices of various edible oils have gone down in the range of 11 to 20 per cent due to excess supply in the world market, but rupee has depreciated by nearly 6 per cent in last one year," the SEA said.

Among palm oil products, import of crude palm oil declined to 4,49,762 tonnes during April this year from 5,56,822 tonnes in the same period last year, as per SEA data.

However, shipments of RBD palmolein rose marginally to 2,38,479 tonnes from 2,09,772 tonnes, while that of crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) increased to 19,209 tonnes from 12,290 tonnes.

Among soft oil, import of sunflower oil declined to 2,42,462 tonnes in April 2019 from 2,94,450 tonnes, while that of soyabean oil fell to 2,48,851 tonnes from 2,64,750 tonnes earlier.

India, the world's leading vegetable oil buyer, imports palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, and a small quantity of crude soft oil, including soyabean oil, from Latin America. Sunflower oil is imported from Ukraine and Russia.