PALMOILMAGAZINE, MUMBAI In December 2023, India experienced a peak in palm oil imports, marking the highest level over the past four months. This surge notably boosted the demand for processed palm oil products due to their competitive pricing. On Wednesday, five palm oil brokers shared with Reuters that they observed a substantial increase in purchases.
According to the brokers’ projections, palm oil imports in December rose by 1.9% compared to the previous month, reaching 886,000 metric tons. This figure encompassed processed palm oil, which saw a remarkable 47% increase, totaling 252,000 tons.
The brokers also highlighted that the negative impacts of crude palm oil (CPO) distillation margins affected the distillation industries in the country. Exporter countries, including Indonesia and Malaysia, offered more affordable products, resulting in profits for buyers in India.
Also Read: CPO Prices Depressed by Weakening Prices of Other Vegetable Oils
Rajesh Patel, a managing partner of the vegetable oil trade and a broker of GGN Research, said that refined, bleached, and deodorized (RBD) palm olein transportation in Mumbai Port was only about US$ 25 per ton, or cheaper than CPO transportation.
Meanwhile, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) would publish December 2023 import data in the middle of January 2024.
Sunflower oil also saw increasing imports that could be twice as high as the last month’s import, which reached 263.000 tons in December; it hit the highest level in the past three months.
As Palmoilmagazine.com quoted from The Hindu, vegetable oil imports in December 2023 totaled 1,3 million metric tons, an increase of 13.3% from the previous month. This had something to do with sunflower seed destruction in Russia and Ukraine, the two biggest sunflower oil producers in the world. This made sunflower oil more competitive and affordable in CPO price, according to CEO Sunvin Group, Sandeep Bajoria.
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Meanwhile, soyoil imports in December 2023 increased by 1.4% to 152.000 tons, though the numbers were less than the average ones in the past marketing year. This happened because of the negative distillation margin and higher premium than other vegetable oils.
India keeps purchasing palm oil, namely from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, while soyoil and sunflower oil are imported from Argentina, Brazil, Russia, and Ukraine. (T2)
