India's vegetable oil imports fell 17 percent in January from a year ago as it increased local oilseeds crushing, a leading trade body said, largely as expected, with higher international prices also dampening demand. But rival Asian economic powerhouse China boosted imports in the month, as buyers tried to build stocks ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, analysts in India said.
Traders in India, the world's top buyer of vegetable oils, had expected an 18 percent fall in imports of vegetable oils in January from a year ago, including non-edibles, and forecast a 7.0 percent decline from the month earlier. India imported 4.2 percent less vegetable oil in January from December, at 752,688 tonnes, data from the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEAI) showed.
China, the world's No 2 vegetable oil buyer, increased edible vegetable oil purchases in January by 13 percent over a year ago, although imports slipped 23 percent from December, according to preliminary data from customs authorities showed. "Chinese imports rose as it bought more to fill reserves ahead of Lunar New Year in February," said Veeresh Hiremath, chief analyst with Hyderabad-based brokerage Karvy Comtrade.
Palm oil imports, the main variety in the basket, fell 18 percent in January to 524,761 tonnes from the previous month, while soyoil imports rose 2 percent to 49,520 tonnes. In India, which is also the world's top vegetable oil importer, soyoil consumption goes up in the winter season as rival palm, a tropical oil, solidifies at lower temperatures.
In the November-January period, vegetable oil imports fell 12.5 percent from a year earlier to 2.1 million tonnes on better local oilseeds crushing. "Imports decreased as local production of oils is higher due to crushing parity compared to same period of last year, coupled with higher production of oilseeds during summer season," said B.V. Mehta, executive director at the SEAI. Malaysian crude palm oil contracts closed down 0.56 percent at 3,933 ringgit ($1,289) on Monday. March soyoil futures on India's National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) were down 0.66 percent to 660.15 rupees per 10 kg at 1117 GMT.