The lower imports have brought down the edible oil stock as of December 1 to 1,62 million tonnes (mt) compared with 1.73 mt on November 1.
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SHENG LI
India’s vegetable oil imports dropped by 11 per cent in November month-on-month and 28 per cent from a year ago as shipments of refined, bleached and deodrised (RBD) palm oil plunged to 3,500 tonnes, data from the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) showed.
Imports of crude sunflower and degummed soybean oils also declined in November, while those of crude palm oil increased.
The lower imports have brought down the edible oil stock as of December 1 to 1,62 million tonnes (mt) compared with 1.73 mt on November 1. The stock includes 1.02 mt of crude palm oil, crude palm kernel oil (0.62 mt), RBD palmolein (7,000 tonnes), degummed soybean oil (265,000 tonnes), crude sunflower oil (125,000 tonnes) and rapeseed oil (6,000 tonnes).
“The ratio of refined oil sharply decreased to 0.30 per cent from 19 per cent, while crude palm oil ratio increased to 99.7 per cent from 81 per cent (among palm group of oils),” SEA said in a statement.
In November, import of palm group of oils decreased to 632,341 tonnes from 842,872 tonnes a year ago. However, its share in vegoil shipments increased to 55 per cent from 52 per cent due to lower soft oils imports. Soft oils imports decreased to 518,614 tonnes from 770,763 tonnes during the period.
Indonesia and Malaysia were the major suppliers of RBD palmolein and crude palm oil to India. In November, Malaysia was major supplier of crude palm oil (301,273 tonnes) followed by Indonesia (123,456 tonnes) and RBD palmolein (3,500 tonnes).
SEA said in the case of degummed soybean oil, India mainly imported from Argentina (235,680 tonnes) followed by Brazil (50,062 tonnes) and China (69,919 tonnes).
Crude sunflower oil was sourced mainly from Russia (74,020 tonnes) followed by Argentina (34,933 tonnes) and Ukraine (20,000 tonnes).
Crude edible oils imports have picked up after the Centre brought down the effective duty on them to 16.5 per cent, while keeping the duty on refined oils at 37.75 per cent in June this year.
Published on December 15, 2025