In the marketing year 2021-22 ending in October, India’s import of edible oils increased from 131.3 lakh tonnes in the previous year to 140.3 lakh tonnes. In value terms, the import of edible oils is expected to increase by 34 per cent to about Rs 1.57 lakh crore in 2021-22.
Import of edible oil increased by 34% in November
India’s edible oil imports rose 34 per cent to 15.29 lakh tonnes in November due to a sharp jump in imports of crude palm oil (CPO) and refined palm oil. Industry organization SEA gave this information. The Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) on Wednesday released the import data of total vegetable oils, including edible oil and non-edible oil, for the first month of the oil marketing year 2022-23, November. According to the data, the import of vegetable oils increased by 32 percent to 15,45,540 tonnes in November, 2022 from 11,73,747 tonnes in the same month last year.
SEA said the share of edible oils in total vegetable oil imports increased to 15,28,760 tonnes in November this year from 11,38,823 tonnes in the same month of 2021. Imports of non-edible oils fell 52 per cent to 16,780 tonnes in November from 34,924 tonnes in the year-ago period. Apart from this, in the category of edible oils, the import of crude palm oil (CPO) was the highest in a month, SEA said. India imported a record 9,31,180 tonnes of CPO in November, 2022, compared to 4,77,160 tonnes in the same period a year ago. The previous highest level of CPO import was in October, 2015 at 8,78,137 tonnes.
Imports of RBD (refined) palmolein increased to 2,02,248 tonnes in November from 58,267 tonnes in the same month last year. The import of sunflower oil also increased from 1,25,024 tonnes to 1,57,709 tonnes. However, the import of crude soybean oil decreased from 4,74,160 tonnes in November, 2021 to 2,29,373 tonnes in the month.
SEA expressed concern over the excessive import of RBD Palmolein as it is affecting the domestic refineries. The current import duty differential of 7.5 per cent between CPO (five per cent) and refined oil (12.5 per cent) encourages import of refined palmolein into our country as opposed to CPO, the association said. It is needless to say that this import of finished goods is contrary to the national interest and is seriously affecting the capacity utilization of the domestic palm refining industry, it said.
In the marketing year 2021-22 ending in October, India’s import of edible oils increased from 131.3 lakh tonnes in the previous year to 140.3 lakh tonnes. In value terms, the import of edible oils has increased by 34 percent to about Rs 1.57 lakh crore in the year 2021-22, which was Rs 1.17 lakh crore in 2020-21. The country imports about 60 percent of its domestic demand. Palm oil is imported by India from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Soybean oil comes from Argentina and Brazil, while sunflower oil comes from Ukraine and Russia.
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