India's palm oil imports rose by 12.4% in May from the previous month, reaching the highest level in four months, as the recent correction in prices led to higher purchasing volume, five traders told Reuters.
The increase in purchases of Palm oil by India, the world's biggest importer of vegetable oils, could support Malaysia's benchmark palm oil futures, which fell in May to their lowest level in more than three months.
In May, palm oil imports reached 769,000 tonnes, marking the highest peak since January, according to traders' estimates.
Last month, there was a significant increase in imports of refined palm oil, driven by better margins that led traders to increase their purchases to 214,000 tonnes, compared to 124,228 tonnes in the previous period, as explained by Rajesh Patel, managing partner at brokerage GGN Research.
In July, traders offer the CPO price in India for approximately $948 per ton, including cost, insurance and CIF. They also quoted the prices of soybean oil and sunflower oil at around $1,028 and $1,035 per ton, respectively.
Dynamics of oil imports in India
Two months ago, CPO was at a premium over rival oils.
Palm oil imports are expected to remain robust, with 750,000 tonnes arriving in June, says Sandeep Bajoria, CEO of Sunvin Group. Industry body SEA is likely to publish its May import data in mid-June.
In May, India imported 408,000 tons of sunflower oil, an increase of 74% from the previous month, as some ships that had their docking delayed in April due to port congestion disembarked in May, traders reported.
Soybean oil imports fell 16.5% in May to 322,000 tonnes, traders said.
The increase in palm and sunflower oil imports increased edible oil imports by 15%, reaching 1.5 million tons.
India imports palm oil from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and soybean and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.
Source: Rajendra Jadhav | Notícias Agrícolas
