Vegetable oil imports up 34 pc in July at 15.24 lakh tonnes

Vegetable oil imports rose 34 per cent during July to 15.24 lakh tonnes on higher shipments of cheaper refined palm oil and rupee appreciation in the last six months, according to industry data.
Imports of vegetable oils (comprising edible and non- edible oil) stood at 11.4 lakh tonnes in July 2016.
Edible oil imports rose to 14.89 lakh tonnes last month from 11.18 lakh tonnes in July 2016, the Solvent Extractors' Association said in a statement.
The Centre recently raised import duty on crude palm oil to 15 per cent from 7.5 per cent, degummed soyabean oil to 17.5 per cent from 12.5 per cent and RBD palmolein to 25 per cent from 15 per cent to ensure that farmers get good price for oilseed crops and do not shift to other crops, it added.

During November-July period of the 2016-17 oil marketing year, the import of vegetable oils increased by 4 per cent to 11.38 million tonnes compared to 10.9 million tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The strengthening of rupee in the last six months contributed to the imports of vegetable oils, SEA added.

Oil year runs from November to October.
Edible oil imports went up to 11.10 million tonnes during the first nine months of the 2016-17 oil year from 10.78 million tonnes in the year-ago period.
SEA pointed out that soyabean, rapeseed and groundnut are currently being sold below the minimum support price (MSP) and prices have fallen between 20 per cent to 30 per cent from last year.

"The current prices are the lowest in the last five years and farmers are totally discouraged to sow the oilseeds and (it is) reflected in switching over from oilseeds cultivation to other crops.
"The area under oilseeds reduced by over 17 lakh hectares in current kharif season and reported at 154.29 lakh hectares against 171.15 lakh hectares last year," SEA said.
During November-July period, palm oil import increased to 67.41 lakh tonnes from 61.75 lakh tonnes during the same period of the previous oil year.
The share of palm oil products increased to 61 per cent from 57 per cent, thanks to larger import of RBD palmolein, while soft oils import reduced to 43.59 lakh tonnes from 46.12 lakh tonnes during the period under review.