India boosts soybean oil imports, leading to a drop in palm oil purchases in August 2024

Over-buying in July 2024 led to a build-up of inventories at refineries. Domestic stocks were sufficient to force the world's largest vegetable oil importer to reduce purchases, putting pressure on the two main palm oil producers, Indonesia and Malaysia. Soybean oil imports rose 16% to 454,639 tonnes, while sunflower oil imports fell 22.5% to 284,108 tonnes, SEA said. Lower imports of palm and sunflower oil brought India's total edible oil imports down 17% to 1.53 million tonnes. Palm oil has traditionally been traded at a softer price than competing vegetable oils, but is now being offered at a $40/tonne premium over soybean oil for September 2024 shipments. Despite lower palm oil imports in August 2024, domestic inventories rose to 2.93 million tonnes as of September 1, 2024, a nine-month high, according to SEA. India's edible oil imports may decline this September due to lower purchases of soybean oil and sunflower oil, according to ...