Lower prices for palm group of oils resulted in higher imports of vegetable oils in November compared with the same period a year ago.
According to the Solvent Extractors Association of India, vegetable oils import increased 36 per cent in November to 7.53 lakh tonnes (lt). Of this, edible oils comprised 7.12 lt and non-edible the rest.
Prices of refined, bleached and deodorised palmolein dropped to $708 a tonne in November compared with $715 in October, while crude palm oil rate slipped to $660 from $672. Prices of crude sunflower oil and crude soyabean oil, however, increased. In the case of soyabean oil, it was up at $867 ($818) and sunflower rose to $836 ($802).
Drop in palm imports
Of the oils that were imported, crude palm oil made up 4.50 lt and RBD palmolein 1.12 lt. A little over 55,000 tonnes of crude sunflower oil were imported while 78,000 tonnes of crude soyabean oil were brought into the country.
The percentage of palm group oils import dropped to 81 per cent from 98 per cent last year. This was mainly since last year, higher prices for soyabean and sunflower oils made the imports unfeasible.
Source : Business Line