India's June vegoil imports up 30 percent

India's vegetable oil imports in June rose by 30 percent to 862,550 tonnes compared to the previous month, a leading trade body said on Thursday, the third straight monthly rise and slightly above the average forecast in a Reuters poll. The imports are the highest since November, on expected lines, as local supplies remained poor ahead of India's festival season which runs from August to October and usually includes celebratory meals.
June vegetable oil imports were 17.8 percent higher than the 732,232 tonnes imported in the same month a year ago, said the Mumbai-based Solvent Extractors' Association of India in a statement. A Reuters survey had forecast average imports of 847,500 tonnes in June. The rise in monthly imports, however, belies a new downward trend in annual overseas purchases since November, the first time in five years as local supplies outweighed an incremental rise in consumption. In the first eight months to the marketing year ending October, imports have been down 9 percent compared to the same period a year ago.