New Delhi, Jan 13 (PTI) The country imported 6,69,912 tonnes of vegetable oil in December 2011, down 22 per cent from the previous month, on account of higher domestic supply during peak crushing period, trade body SEA said today.
In November, last year, the vegetable oils shipments were on higher side at 8,55,363 tonne. In December 2010, the shipments were 7,52,688 tonnes, the statement said.
"Our imports were lower in December because we had shipped substantially higher quantity in the previous month and also there was good supply of domestic oils," the Solvent Extractors'' Association of India (SEA) Executive Director B V Mehta told PTI.
The supply of domestic vegetable oils was smooth last month because of the ongoing crushing season, that started from November 2011, he said.
Of total vegetable oil import of 6,69,912 tonnes, 6,54,714 tonne was edible oil and 15,198 tonnes non-edible oil, the SEA data said.
Among edible oils, maximum shipments in December were of crude palm oil at 4,36,789 tonnes, followed by refined palm (1,07,041 tonnes), crude sunflower oil (94,000 tonnes), crude palm kernel oil (7,997 tonnes) and crude soyabean oil (7,387 tonnes), it said.
Mehta said shipment of sunflower oil has been higher between November-December 2011 compared to soyabean oil because of a fall in the prices.
India, the world''s leading importer of cooking oil, buys mainly palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia and a small quantity of soyabean oil from Argentina and Brazil.
Source : msn.com