Edible Oil Imports Go Up 32 Per Cent In First Half

A sharp rise has been recorded in imports of edible as well as non-edible oils in the first half of the oil year (November 1999 to April 2000), thanks to the liberalised exim policy and low prices abroad.

The domestic vanaspati and soap industries use imported oils for their end-products. The excessive import of palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) and other non-edible oils has hit offtake of domestic industrial oils like rice bran, neem, mahua etc, B V Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors' Association of India, said. Import of edible oils during April 2000 is reported at 298,666 tonne against the April 1999 figure of at 270,613 tonne. Import in the period from November 1999 to April 2000 is up 32 per cent at 1,868,171 tonne against 1,418,123 tonne for the corresponding period of last year.

 

In the first six months of the oil year 1999-2000, import of refined, bleached and deodorised palmolein rose 63 per cent to cross the million tonne-mark and stood at 1,171,579 tonne against 721,003 tonne during first half of last year.

The import of raw oil has increased considerably as is evident from the April shipment figures which reveal that, out of 298,666 tonne of imports, refined oil is 159,930 tonne (53 per cent) and raw or crude oil is 138,736 tonne (47 per cent). In comparison the ratio for refined and crude oil for first six months of the oil year was 64:36. The import of crude palm oil surged in the period from November 1999 to April 2000 to 207,178 tonne. In April alone, 69,818 tonne was imported, a record import figure. Import of non-edible oils for November 1999 to April 2000 climbed 65 per cent to 86,176 tonne against 52,282 tonne for the same period of last year. PFAD is the main non-edible oil imported by the soap industry. Its imports have nearly doubled to 40,596 tonne from 20,666 tonne during the first half of the current oil year.