India's edible oil imports to surge July-October as supplies shrink before festivals

MUMBAI: India’s edible oil imports are set to climb between July and October as slower soybean and rapeseed crushing erodes domestic supplies, ahead of peak festive demand, industry officials said on Wednesday.

Imports are expected to rise to an average of 1.5 million tons a month between July and October, B.V. Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India and four other industry officials told Reuters.

Higher imports of palm oil and soyoil by India - the world’s biggest buyer of vegetable oils - are expected to reduce inventories in key suppliers Indonesia, Malaysia, Argentina and Brazil, while supporting benchmark Malaysian palm oil and soyoil futures.

“Crushing of domestic oilseeds has slowed because supplies from last year’s crop are nearly exhausted,” Mehta said.

“With local edible oil supplies declining, imports will have to increase over the next few months to meet demand.”

India imported an average of 1.3 million metric tons of edible oils a month during the first eight months of the 2025/26 marketing year, which ends in October.

India’s total edible oil imports in the current marketing year are expected to rise to 16.3 million metric tons from 16 million tons a year earlier, Mehta said.

India meets nearly two-thirds of its edible oil demand through imports, as domestic oilseed production has failed to keep pace with rising consumption over the past two decades.

Refiners are aggressively buying palm oil and soyoil for shipment over the next few months as they build inventories ahead of the festive season, said Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of Sunvin Group, a vegetable oil brokerage and consultancy firm.

India will celebrate a series of festivals between August and November, when demand for edible oils typically peaks.

India imports most of its palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, while soyoil and sunflower oil are mainly from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.

However, Indian buyers have recently diversified purchases, booking palm oil from suppliers in South America and Africa alongside traditional sources. Soyoil imports have also included cargoes from China and Turkey, said a New Delhi-based trader.

India’s palm oil imports in July are expected to jump as much as 54% from the previous month to a five-month high of 750,000 tons, said Rajesh Patel, managing partner at trader GGN Research.