Sunflower oil import touches record 4.45 lakh tonnes in March: SEA

India imported a record crude sunflower oil of 4,45,723 tonne in March, taking advantage of lower prices, while the country’s total edible oil imports reached 11.49 lakh tonne in the month, industry body SEA said on Thursday. Crude sunflower oil imports stood at 1,48,145 lakh tonnes in March 2023, while total edible oil imports were 11.35 lakh tonnes a year ago.

India is the world’s largest consumer and importer of edible oils. With the rise in global prices of palm oil, the demand for soft oils — sunflower and soyabean oil — has increased in the last two months. “India imported a record quantity of sunflower oil in the last two months, February 2,97,000 tonne and in March received the highest monthly quantity of 4,46,000 tonne,” the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) said while releasing the latest data.

Crude soyabean oil imports have risen to 2,18,604 tonnes compared to the previous months but remained lower than 2,58,925 tonnes in March 2023. Among palm oils, import of crude palm oil (CPO) declined to 3.81 lakh tonnes in March this year from 5.51 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period, while RBD palmoleion shipments too fell to 93,799 tonnes from 1.69 lakh tonnes.

However, the import of crude palm kernel oil rose to 10,499 tonnes in March this year from 8,006 tonnes in the year-ago period, the SEA data showed. According to the SEA, palm oil has become more expensive than sunflower oil by USD 70 per tonne in the global market.

Global palm oil prices have firmed up due to short supply caused by lower production and stock in Indonesia and Malaysia, it said. Palm oil was quoted at USD 1,045 per tonne on April 5 for shipment to India, while crude sunflower oil was cheaper and available at USD 975 per tonne and soyabean oil at USD 1,025 per tonne, it added.

As of April 1, there were 23.15 lakh tonnes of edible oils stock at ports and pipelines. India imports palm oils mainly from Indonesia, and Malaysia, crude sunflower oils from Romania, Russia, Argentina and Ukraine, and soyabean oils from Argentina and Brazil.

This article has been republished from The Mint.