Latest News

India's palm oil imports in September hit a 4-month low; soyoil jumps up to a 3-month high

Five dealers claim that India's palm-oil imports fell in September to the lowest level for four months as refiners substituted palm oil with soyoil.

India's increasing soyoil and lower palm oil imports could impact the benchmark Malaysian palm futures, while supporting U.S. soybean futures.

According to dealers, palm oil imports dropped 15.9% on a monthly basis in September, to 833,000 tons, the lowest level since May.

Dealer estimates show that soyoil imports have risen 37.3%, to 505,000 tonnes, to their highest level since July 20, 22. Meanwhile, sunflower oil imports are up 5.8%, to 272,000 tons, an eight-month record.

Estimates show that India's total imports of edible oils in September fell 0.7% from the previous month to 1.61 millions tons due to lower palm oil imports.

Dealers said that the import figures do not include duty-free shipments from Nepal which arrived via land border.

Sandeep Bajoria is the chief executive officer of Sunvin Group in Mumbai, an oil brokerage.

Bajoria, a Bajoria spokesperson, said that the palm oil stocks in India are at a comfortable level after large imports from June to August before the festival season.

The demand for edible oils in India, especially palm oil, usually increases during festival season due to the increased consumption of sweets, fried foods, and fried food.

Rajesh Patel is the managing partner of edible oil trader GGN Research. He said that in September, India imported 11,000 tons soyoil, which was the first shipment for a very long time.

India's palm-oil imports in October are expected to drop to about 600,000 tonnes, while imports of soyoil will likely surpass 450,000 tons. This was the prediction from a Mumbai-based trader with a global trading house.

India imports mainly palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia and soyoil from Argentina, Brazil and Russia and Ukraine.

GGN Research estimates that Nepal's edible oils imports fell to 35,000 tons from 95,000 in August. (Reporting and editing by Eileen Soreng; Rajendra Jadhav)

(source: Reuters)