Nafed to watch global edible oil prices for further import

National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed), which has so far imported 40,000 tonnes of edible oil, will keep a track of international prices before deciding on further imports.

"We have so far contracted import of 40,000 tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO) and soya oil, out of which 9,000 tonnes are degummed soya oil," Nafed Managing Director Alok Ranjan told reporters here today.

He said the international prices of edible oil have firmed up in the last few days after being stable for quite sometime. The prices of CPO has increased by 6.18 per cent in the last one month while the increase in soya oil is 8.59 per cent. The price of crude soy oil is $859 a tonne while that of CPO is $790 a tonne.

Ranjan said the output of both soyabean and groundnut is expected to be more this year, making larger quantity available for crushing. However, the country would still need to import about 50 lakh tonnes this year, he added.

The Nafed MD denied any plan for retail sale of imported edible oil saying that "it is not a priority for us".

Meanwhile, the Committee of Secretaries is scheduled to meet today to take stock of the situation on edible oil prices and oilseeds production in the country. According to the first advance estimate released by the Agriculture Ministry, oilseeds production, which declined last year, is likely to go up by about 16 per cent at 16.13 million tonnes in kharif 2007, compared with 13.94 million tonnes a year-ago.

Groundnut production is pegged at 5.18 million tonnes, while soyabean production is estimated at 9.04 million tonnes.

However, the industry has pegged the oilseeds output at 15.15 million tonnes in 2007-08, compared with 13.15 million tonnes in the previous year.

According to the Central Organisation of Oil Industry and Trade, soyabean output is likely to go up to 8.6 million tonnes, against 7.66 million tonnes last year, while groundnut production is estimated at 4.6 million tonnes compared with 3.5 million tonnes.