Edible oil imports decline 18 per cent in 10 months

Imports of edible oil during the first 10 months of the current oil year (November-October) plunged 18 per cent to 3,416,543 tonne from 4,172,549 tonne in the corresponding period of the previous year, according to Solvent Extractors' Association data.

In fact, August turned out to be the worst month for edible oil imports. The month witnessed a huge 39 per cent decline in imports at 3,63,938 tonne (soybean oil: 9,200 tonne) from 5,95,571 tonne posted in August in the earlier oil year.

Edible oil mainly comprises two categories "� palm oil and soft oil. Now , of the 3,416,543 tonne, imports of palm oil products accounted for 1,878,998 tonne or 55 per cent, while soft oil imports contributed the rest 45 per cent or 1,537,545 tonne (soybean oil making up the major volume of 1,405,917 tonne).

Imports of refined oil slumped to 1.15 lakh tonne from 4.14 lakh tonne in the November-August period this year.

Imports of crude palmolein during the period under review fell steeply to 50,000 tonne from 1.86 lakh tonne last year and a peak of 12.6 lakh tonne during 2002-03, thanks to worse carotenoid condition.

Though its share in total edible oil imports increased by 7 percentage points, y-o-y, to 97 per cent in the 10-month period of this oil year, crude palmolein imports, quantity-wise, declined by 4.58 lakh tonne, from 37.58 lakh tonne, on the back of an overall drop in imports by 7.56 lakh tonne at 34.16 lakh tonne.

Further, the ratio between palm oil and soft oil imports during the 10-month period was 55:45 compared with 62:38 in the corresponding period a year earlier.