India's edible oil imports hit 4-year low due to depleting inventories

India's edible oil imports in February plunged to their lowest level in four years, led by declines in soyoil and sunflower oil imports, dragging inventories to their lowest level in three years, a leading industry body said on Tuesday.

Lower-than-normal imports for the second straight month have depleted stocks in the world's biggest buyer of vegetable oils. This could force India to increase purchases in the coming months, supporting Malaysian palm oil prices and US soyoil futures.

The country's palm oil imports last month rose 35.7 per cent from January to 373,549 metric tonnes, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.

India imported an average of more than 750,000 tonnes of palm oil every month in the marketing year that ended in October 2024, according to the SEA.

Imports of soyoil decreased 36 per cent to 283,737 tonnes in February and sunflower oil imports fell 20.8 per cent to 228,275 tonnes, the SEA said.

Lower shipments of soyoil and sunflower oil brought down the country's total vegetable oil imports last month by 12 per cent to 899,565 tonnes, the lowest since February 2021, the SEA said.

Edible oil stocks in India have fallen by 14 per cent from a month ago to 1.87 million tonnes on March 1, the lowest in more than three years.

India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while it imports soyoil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.

Palm oil and soyoil imports are likely to improve in March, as the industry has been trying to build stocks, said Rajesh Patel, managing partner at GGN Research, an edible oil trader.

Palm oil's share of total vegetable oil imports fell to 43 per cent in the first four months of the current marketing year, which ends in October 2025, from 66 per cent a year ago, the SEA said.