India's August soyoil, palm oil imports rise on stocking

MUMBAI: India’s soyoil imports surged to a record in August, while palm oil purchases climbed to a six-month high, as refiners stocked up ahead of the country’s festival season, a leading industry body said on Tuesday.

Higher palm oil and soyoil buying by the world’s biggest importer of vegetable oils could help top producers Indonesia, Malaysia and Argentina move their stocks, supporting benchmark palm oil and soyoil futures.

India’s palm oil imports in August rose 7% from the previous month to 782,761 metric tons, the highest since February, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.

Imports of soyoil rose 26% to a record high of 628,736 tons and sunflower oil imports decreased 36% to 160,639 tons, the industry body said.

Overall edible oil imports rose 1.5% to an 11-month high of 1.57 million tons, driven by higher shipments of palm oil and soyoil.

Refiners increased purchases to build stocks ahead of the upcoming festival season, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trade house. India celebrates a series of festivals between August and November, when demand for edible oils typically peaks.

Soyoil is available at competitive prices compared with palm oil, which should keep September shipments elevated at above 600,000 tons, said a New Delhi-based dealer with a global trade house.

“Sunflower oil shipments from the Black Sea region have been disrupted by the war. This is also prompting refiners to increase their soyoil purchases,” he said.

India’s aggressive vegetable-oil buying has led to congestion at major ports, delaying vessel unloading by as much as 10 days as shore tanks fill and refiners struggle to clear incoming cargo, industry officials told Reuters last week.

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