India reduced edible oil imports by 5%

Imports of edible oils – palm, soybean and sunflower – decreased by 5% to 8.67 million tons in the first seven months of 2023/24 (November-October) compared to the same period last oilseed year. B.V. Mehta, executive director of the Indian Oilseed Producers Association (SEA), told FE that the decline in imports this year is due to high mustard and soybean harvests in the domestic market and rising world prices. Imports of palm oil for the period from November to May (2023-24) amounted to 4.97 mln tons, which is 7% less than in the previous year. Soybean imports totaled 1.59 million tons, down 22% year-on-year, while sunflower imports were up 20% to 1.99 million tons this year. While floods in Brazil and a workers’ strike in Argentina led to a sharp rise in global soybean oil prices, sunflower supplies from Russia and Ukraine declined due to the “dead season,” according to Mehta, prices for palm oil, which is the main imported product, remained more or less stable on the ...