India's soyoil imports hit record high in August and palm six-month peak, dealers say

MUMBAI: Indian refiners imported a record amount of soyoil in August and the highest volume of palm oil in six months as they built stocks ahead of the festival season, five dealers said.

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

India’s palm oil imports rose 7% from a month earlier to 780,000 metric tons in August, dealers’ average estimates showed.

Soyoil imports jumped 21% month-on-month to a record 601,000 tons, while sunflower oil shipments fell 38% to a six-month low of 157,000 tons.

Edible oil imports rose 4% to an 11-month high of 1.54 million tons, driven by higher shipments of palm oil and soyoil.

The figures exclude duty-free shipments arriving via land from neighbouring Nepal, the dealers said.

About 100,000 tons of edible oils, including 90,000 tons of soyoil, were imported from Nepal in August, they said.

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

The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India is due to publish its August import data by mid-September.

Refiners increased purchases to meet festive demand and because nearby deliveries were cheaper than shipments for later months, said Rajesh Patel, managing partner at trader GGN Research in Rajkot city in the western state of Gujarat.

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

Soyoil imports jumped as the oilseed was more competitively priced than palm oil, while sunflower oil shipments from the Black Sea were disrupted by an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine war, said Mumbai-based Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of Sunvin Group, a vegetable oil brokerage.

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.

“Even in September, Indian imports of soyoil and palm oil are going to be very high,” Bajoria said.