Edible oil imports up 22% to ₹1.61 trillion in 2024-25; volume flat: SEA

India imported 16 million tonnes of edible oils for nearly ₹1.61 trillion during the 2024-25 marketing year ended October to meet domestic demand, according to industry body SEA.

In the 2023-24 marketing year (November-October), India's edible oil imports stood at 15.96 million tonnes worth ₹1.32 trillion, as per the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) data released on Thursday.

The increase in edible oil imports in value terms was 22 per cent because of higher global prices.

India imports palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia while the soyabean oil comes from Argentina and Brazil.

"To bridge the gap between supply and demand, India has resorted to imports since 1990s. In the initial period, the import volume was very low. However, in the last 20 years (2004-05 to 2024-25), import volume has increased by 2.2 times while cost of import has gone up nearly 15 times," the association said.

In 2024-25, India had to spend nearly ₹1.61 trillion (USD 18.3 billion) in 2024-25 for import of 160 lakh tonnes (16 million tonnes) of edible oils, it added.

In volume terms, the imports of edible oils stood at 16.47 million tonnes in 2022-23, 14.03 million tonnes in 2021-22 and 13.13 million tonnes in 2020-21 marketing year.

During the 2024-25 oil marketing year, SEA data showed that 17,37,228 tonnes of refined oils were imported compared to 19,31,254 tonnes in the preceding year.

However, the imports of crude edible oils rose to 142,73,520 tonnes from 140,31,317 tonnes in the 2023-24 marketing year.

Soyabean oil import set a new record of 5.47 million tonnes in 2024-25, beating the previous high of 42.3 lakh tonnes in 2015-16. Palm oil import sharply decreased to 7.58 million tonnes from 9 million tonnes, the association data showed.