India's June palm oil imports fall to 14-month low as demand softens, dealers say

MUMBAI: India’s palm oil imports in June fell to their lowest in 14 months as subdued demand and a narrowing discount to rival oils prompted buyers to cut purchases, five dealers said.

Lower palm oil buying by the world’s biggest importer of vegetable oils could swell stocks in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia and weigh on benchmark Malaysian palm oil futures.

Palm oil imports fell 10.5% from a month ago to 492,000 metric tons in June, the lowest level since April 2025, dealer estimates showed.

Soyoil imports fell 23% month-on-month in June to 381,000 tons, while sunflower oil shipments dropped 17.5% to 244,000 tons, the lowest in three months.

India’s total imports of edible oil fell 16.6% from May to 1.1 million tons in June, as imports of all three edible oils fell, estimates showed.

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

India’s monthly palm oil imports averaged about 632,000 tons in the marketing year ended October 2025, according to the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), which is due to publish June import data by mid-July.

Palm oil demand has been weak in recent months as distributors have been buying hand-to-mouth in the hope that prices will decline, prompting refiners to cut back on imports, said Rajesh Patel, managing partner at trader GGN Research in the city of Rajkot in the western state of Gujarat.

Cooking gas shortages, higher gas prices and extreme summer heat also contributed to the decline in demand, he said.

The world’s second-largest importer of cooking gas, India was grappling with its worst gas crisis in decades, as the government cuts supplies to industry and raises commercial cylinder prices to shield households from shortages.

The discount of palm oil to soyoil has narrowed to less than $50 per ton, prompting refiners to make cautious purchases, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trade house.

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.