India's palm oil imports fell by a third in September from the previous month, hitting their lowest level in six months. Rising palm oil prices oil tropical palm oil has made the product more expensive relative to rival oils, prompting refiners to delay purchases, according to five industry traders.
The drop in purchases by the world's largest importer of vegetable oils could result in a rise in palm oil stocks in major producing countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, putting pressure on benchmark futures prices.
According to traders' estimates, palm oil imports fell by 34% in September to 530,000 tonnes, compared with 804,000 tonnes in the previous month.
High prices and taxes curb palm oil imports
“Palm oil became more expensive than soybean oil and sunflower oil last month. Also, the increase in import duties in India has led some refiners to cancel contracts,” said Sandeep Bajoria, CEO of Sunvin Group, a brokerage specializing in vegetable oils.
Historically, palm oil has traded at lower prices than other vegetable oils. However, it is currently being sold at a premium for October shipments.
In September, India increased the basic import duty on crude and refined edible oils by 20 percentage points. This measure directly impacted imports.
Soybean oil imports also fell, falling 15% in September compared to the previous month, totaling 388,000 tons. Sunflower oil imports, meanwhile, fell 49% to just 145,000 tons, the lowest volume in 10 months.
This reduction in imports of palm, soybean and sunflower oil resulted in a 31% drop in India's total edible oil imports. Total imports reached 1.06 million tonnes in September, as per traders' estimates.
India sources its palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Its imports of soybean and sunflower oil come from countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.
Source: Rajendra Jadhav | Notícias Agrícolas
