Workers prepare oil palm seedlings at a nursery in Telangana’s Khammam district. File | Photo source: Reuters
India’s palm oil imports rose 12.4% in May from the previous month, hitting a four-month high as recent price correction led to larger purchases, five dealers said Reuters.
Greater purchases of palm oil by India, the world’s largest importer of vegetable oils, could support benchmark Malaysian palm oil futures, which fell to their lowest level in more than three months in May.
According to dealer estimates, palm oil imports in May rose to 769,000 tonnes, the highest since January.
Palm oil imports rose last month as higher margins prompted traders to raise purchases of refined palm oil, reaching 214,000 tonnes from 124,228 tonnes in the previous month, said Rajesh Patel, managing partner at edible oil trader and broker GGN Research.
Imports of crude palm oil (CPO) in India for July delivery cost around $948 per tonne, including cost, insurance and freight (CIF), while soybean oil and sunflower oil cost around $1,028 and $1,035 per tonne, respectively, dealers said.
Two months ago, CPO was gaining an advantage over competing oils.
Palm oil imports will remain high even in June, with around 750,000 tonnes likely to enter the country, said Sandeep Bajoria, CEO of Sunvin Group, a vegetable oil broker.
Industry body Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) is likely to release its May import data by mid-June.
India’s sunflower oil imports in May rose 74% from a month earlier to 408,000 tonnes as several ships whose docking was delayed in April due to port congestion landed in May, dealers said.
Soybean oil imports fell 16.5% to 322,000 tonnes in May, dealers said.
They claim that higher imports of palm oil and sunflower oil have increased the country’s edible oil imports by 15% to 1.5 million tonnes.
India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while it imports soybean and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.
