With the increase in the import of edible oil, the import of palm oil is also increasing rapidly. India’s palm oil import has increased by 29.21 percent to 90.80 lakh tonnes in the first 11 months of the season 2022-23. SEA said that this increase in imports of palm and edible oil is a matter of concern for domestic refiners.
India is the largest buyer of vegetable oil in the world and had imported 70.28 lakh tonnes of palm oil during the last season. In such a situation, the country’s total vegetable oil import increased by 20 percent to 156.73 lakh tonnes during November-September of 2022–23, which was 130.13 lakh tonnes in the same period of the previous season.
According to PTI, SEA said the country’s vegetable oil imports witnessed a 5 per cent decline in September to 15.52 lakh tonnes from 16.32 lakh tonnes in the same period last year. Mumbai-based Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) said that import of palm products has increased rapidly. The share of palm oil has increased to 59 percent.
Increased import of soybean and other oils
Compared to soybean and other oils, imports of crude palm oil suffered a slight setback, totaling 7.05 lakh tonnes in September this year, which is less than 8.24 lakh tonnes in the previous month. Palm oil also includes RBD palmolein, crude palm oil (CPO), crude olein, and crude palm kernel oil (CPKO).
Domestic Refining Industry from Imports
According to SEA, despite adequate domestic availability, the sharp fall in domestic edible oil prices has increased the demand. SEA also said that per capita consumption has increased in recent months with the decline in domestic edible oil prices. The import of palm oil has seriously affected the domestic refining industry.
Total refined oil (RBD palmolein) imports reached 20.53 lakh tonnes during the November-September period of the oil year 2022-23, from 17.12 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period. According to the SEA, this is seriously affecting the functioning of the domestic palm oil refining industry.
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