India’s Edible Oil Appetite Surges—Palm Oil Steals the Show, Soyoil Misses the Boat

Unknown Apr 02, 2026 1,100 Views

India's imports of edible oils increased in June 2025 to a seven-month peak as prices of palm oil were more favorable and inventories were replenished after a low. Total edible oil imports stood at 1.53 million metric tons, a 30% increase from the previous month, and palm oil led the way, dea...

Key Highlights:

Palm oil imports increased 61% from a month earlier to 953,000 metric tons, an 11-month high, as local inventories were thin and palm oil was discounted by $90–100 a ton versus soyoil.
Sunflower oil imports rose 18% to 216,000 metric tons due to there being persistent Indian refiner demand.
Soyoil imports fell 9% to 363,000 metric tons, a four-month low, due to severe congestion at the Kandla port, resulting in delay and higher demurrage charges.
The growth in the importation of palm oil is a robust rebound, with market participants attributing palm oil's regained price competitiveness after lagging soyoil and sunflower oil for several months.
India, which sources nearly two-thirds of its edible oil needs through imports, benefited from the reduction of the basic duty of import to 10% on crude edible oils, a move to stabilize food prices and support the domestic processing sector.
The increased imports come after India's vegetable oil inventories declined to multi-year lows earlier this year, prompting aggressive restocking.
Industry players insist that the domestic commodity exchanges are re-opened so that they can be aligned with international markets, considering India's 60% reliance on foreign edible oil imports.

Palm will definitely claw back its mojo and recover whatever loss it had incurred previously," said Asian Palm Oil Alliance Chairman Atul Chaturvedi.

India imports palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, while soyoil and sunflower oil are imported from Argentina, Brazil, Russia, and Ukraine. With soyoil imports being delayed due to logistics, the price superiority of palm oil is expected to stay in the top position for the next couple of months.

Source: Reuters, CNBC-TV18, Economic Times

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