The Indian government is planning to increase the import duty on vegetable oils to safeguard local farmers from falling oil prices, which is likely to decrease the demand and supply of palm, soybean, and sunflower oil in the country. This decision comes amidst rising global oil prices, which have led to an increase in the prices of palm oil futures in Malaysia and soybean oil futures in Chicago. The proposed import duty hike is expected to impact the export rates of these oils from major producing countries like Malaysia and Ukraine, which have seen a reduction in exports in recent months due to various reasons. Ukraine, the largest European Union buyer of Ukrainian sunflower oil, purchased a record 3.7 million tons of it, making it the main buyer for the 2023/24 marketing year.