India’s palm oil imports rose to their highest level in three months in April as lower prices lured buyers, while rival sunoil imports slipped, a leading trade body said on Tuesday.
Palm oil imports rose 40.9% in April from the previous month to stand at 684,094 metric tons, the highest since January, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.
Higher palm oil purchases by India, the world’s biggest importer of vegetable oils, could support the benchmark Malaysian palm oil futures.
The contract hit a three-month low on May 10.
Crude palm oil’s (CPO) imports are offered at about $920 a metric ton, including cost, insurance and freight (CIF), in India for June delivery, while soyoil and sunflower oil are offered around $920 and $945 a ton, respectively, dealers told Reuters earlier this month.
Malaysian palm oil futures up on support from rival oils
Sunflower oil imports fell 47.3% to 234,801 tons while imports of soyoil rose 76.4% to 385,514 tons.
Higher imports of palm oil and soyoil lifted India’s total edible oil imports by 13% to 1.3 million tons, as per the data.
India purchases palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while it imports soyoil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.