India makes long-term soyabean purchases to secure cheap supply

Indian buyers have placed orders for large volumes of soyabean oil from April-July 2026 amid expectations of rising palm oil prices, The Economic Times wrote, citing a Bloomberg story. Traders had locked in more than 150,000 tonnes/month of South American soyabean oil in the period, Aashish Acharya, vice president at Patanjali Foods, one of the country’s top vegetable oil buyers, was quoted as saying in the 1 December report. The volume of orders was driven by soyabean oil’s average US$20-30/tonne discount to palm during that period, he added. Soyabean oil typically trades at a premium to palm oil. Increased Indian orders also reflected market expectations that palm prices would increase due to top global producer Indonesia’s plans to blend more palm oil into biofuel starting in the second half of 2026, the report said. “This is a considerably huge coverage in the forward months as the market is sensing palm shortages next year due to lesser production and more usage when B50 in ...