India's 2017/18 palm oil imports drop on weak rupee, liquidity crunch

MUMBAI: India's 2018/2019 palm oil imports dropped 6.4 percent from a year ago to 8.7 million tonnes as rupee depreciation and a credit crunch dented refiners' ability to buy overseas, a leading trade body said on Thursday.

India, the world's biggest importer of edible oils, buys palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, soyoil mainly from Argentina and Brazil, and sunflower oil from Ukraine.

The country's soyoil imports in the year ended on Oct. 31 fell 8.1 percent to 3.05 million tonnes, while sunflower oil purchases jumped 16.4 percent to 2.5 million tonnes, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.

India's total edible oil imports fell 3.7 percent to 14.5 million tonnes, the SEA said.