PALMOILMAGAZINE, MUMBAI – In February 2024, palm oil imports to India experienced a sharp decline, reaching the lowest level in nine months, as reported by six dealers to Reuters on Tuesday. This downturn was primarily attributed to rising prices, prompting buyers to curtail purchases of tropical oil and instead opt for sunflower oil.
India, known as the world’s largest palm oil importer, imported approximately 504,000 metric tons of palm oil in February, in line with dealers’ expectations. This marked a significant drop of 35.6% compared to the previous month and represented the lowest figure since May 2023.
Rajesh Patel, managing partner at GGN Research, a vegetable oil trading and brokerage firm, highlighted that the decrease in palm oil imports was largely driven by consistently negative margins. “Soybean oil and sunflower oil offered more competitive pricing,” he explained, as cited by Reuters.
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Though palm oil was cheaper in trade, the decreasing stock made it more expensive than its competitors. Sunflower oil imports, for instance, increased 34% to be 295.000 tons last month, while sunflower imports decreased 7,9% to be 174.000 tons.
The dealers also told, crude palm oil (CPO) was offered at about US$ 965 per metric ton in India for April delivery, while soyoil and sunflower oil were offered at about US$ 950 dan US$ 928 per ton for each.
Besides, sunflower oil delivery postponement from the previous month did contribute to escalate its imports in February because of the attack of Hauthi around Red Sea.
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The decreasing soyoil and palm oil imports also decreased vegetable oil imports in India in February to be 973.000 tons, reached the lowest level in hardly two years within the decreasing 18,4% from the previous month.
The official February import data might be published by Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) in the midst of March.
India mostly purchased palm oil from India, Malaysia, and Thailand, while soybean and sunflower were purchased from Argentina, Brazil, Russia, and Ukraine. (T2)