PALMOILMAGAZINE, NEW DELHI – India’s vegetable oil imports plummeted to their lowest level in four years in February 2025, primarily due to a sharp drop in soybean and sunflower oil imports. As a result, the country’s vegetable oil stocks have fallen to their lowest level in three years, according to a report by the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) on Tuesday.
According to Palmoilmagazine.com, citing Indiatimes on Thursday (March 13, 2025), two consecutive months of declining imports have significantly depleted India’s vegetable oil reserves. As the world’s largest vegetable oil importer, India may be forced to ramp up purchases in the coming months, which could drive up prices for Malaysian palm oil and U.S. soybean futures.
The SEA report highlighted that India’s palm oil imports surged by 35.7% in February 2025 compared to January, reaching 373,549 metric tons. However, a sharp drop in soybean and sunflower oil shipments led to an overall 12% decline in India’s total vegetable oil imports, which fell to 899,565 tons—the lowest level since February 2021.
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As of March 1, 2025, India’s vegetable oil stocks had dropped by 14% from the previous month, standing at 1.87 million tons—the lowest in over three years, according to SEA.
India sources palm oil primarily from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, while soybean and sunflower oils are imported from Argentina, Brazil, Russia, and Ukraine.
Rajesh Patel, managing partner at GGN Research, a vegetable oil trading firm, stated that India’s palm and soybean oil imports are likely to increase in March 2025 as the industry seeks to replenish stocks ahead of higher demand.
SEA also noted that palm oil’s share of India’s total vegetable oil imports has declined to 43% in the first four months of the current marketing year, ending in October 2025. This is a significant drop from 66% during the same period last year. (P2)