India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while it imports soybean and sunflower oil from Argentina. | Image: Wikimedia commons
India’s palm oil imports in August fell by more than a quarter from the previous month, driven mainly by sufficient domestic stocks and negative margins that discouraged refiners from buying more of the tropical oil, a leading trade body said on Thursday.
Lower purchases by the world’s largest importer of vegetable oils could lead to higher palm oil stocks in major producers Indonesia and Malaysia, weighing on benchmark futures.
India’s palm oil imports fell 26 percent in August from July to 797,482 metric tons, the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.
Soybean oil imports rose 16 percent to 454,639 tonnes, while sunflower oil imports fell 22.5 percent to 284,108 tonnes, it said.
Falling imports of palm and sunflower oils reduced the country’s total edible oil imports by 17 percent to 1.53 million tonnes.
“Refineries are switching from palm oil to soybean oil as palm oil has become more expensive for Indian buyers compared to soybean oil,” said a New Delhi-based dealer with a global trading house.
Palm oil typically trades at a discount to softer oils but is currently being offered at a $40-a-tonne premium to rival soybean oil for September shipments, according to SEA.
Palm oil imports also fell in August due to excessive purchases in July, leading to a build-up of stocks at refineries, the trader said.
Despite lower imports in August, vegetable oil stocks in the country rose to 2.93 million tonnes on Sept. 1, the highest level in nine months, the trade body said.
In September, India’s edible oil imports could fall due to lower purchases of soybean and sunflower oil, said Rajesh Patel, managing partner at edible oil trader and broker GGN Research.
“Palm oil imports could increase marginally to more than 800,000 tonnes,” he said.
India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while it imports soybean and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: September 12, 2024 | 15:54 IS
Disclaimer:
The information contained in this post is for general information purposes only. We make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the post for any purpose.
We respect the intellectual property rights of content creators. If you are the owner of any material featured on our website and have concerns about its use, please contact us. We are committed to addressing any copyright issues promptly and will remove any material within 2 days of receiving a request from the rightful owner.