Edible oil import jumps 63 pc in September to record 16.98 lakh tonnes on record palm oil shipment: SEA

India's imports of edible oils rose 63 per cent to 16.98 lakh tonnes during September, a monthly record, due to all-time high shipments of palm oil, according to industry body SEA. The total import of vegetable oils, comprising both edible and non-edible oils, increased 66 per cent during September to 17,62,338 tonnes compared to 10,61,944 tonnes in September 2020, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.

"Import of edible oils during September 2021 has set a new record shipment of 16.98 lakh tonnes in a single month. Earlier in October 2015, India had imported 16.51 lakh tonnes.

"Palm oil import in September 2021 at 12.62 lakh tonnes is the highest in any single month since India started importing palm oil in 1996," SEA Executive Director B V Mehta said.

Non-edible oils imports went up to 63,608 tonnes in September from 17,702 tonnes in the same month last year.

During November 2020 to September 2021 (11 months), the imports of vegetable oils increased two per cent to 1,24,70,784 tonnes compared to 1,22,57,837 tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year. Out of the total vegetable oil imports, edible oil imports rose to 1,20,85,247 tonnes from 1,19,50,501 tonnes. Non-edible oils rose to 3,85,537 tonnes from 3,07,333 tonnes.

Vegetable oils marketing year runs from November to October.

Due to relaxation in policy for import of RBD palmolein, with effect from July 1, 2021, import sharply increased during August and September 2021. Overall import from November 2020 to September 2021 (11 months) jumped over 50 per cent and reported at 6.28 lakh tonnes compared to 4.16 lakh tonnes during the same period of last year, the association said.

Import of RBD palmolein and RBD palm oil, which moved from 'restricted' to 'free' from July 2021 up to December 31, 2021.

During November 2020 to September 2021, the import of palm oil (both crude and refined) has increased to 76,27,218 tonnes compared to 64,40,947 tonnes during the year-ago period due to lower duty advantage compared to soft oils. Soft oils' import fell to 44,58,029 tonnes compared to 55,09,554 tonnes due to high prices of soybean and sunflower oils in the international market.

The overall palm oil share increased to 63 per cent compared with 54 per cent in the same period of the previous year.

"Shipment of crude rapeseed oil restarted from August 2021 due to high price of domestic rapeseed oil (mustard oil) and nearly import of 12,000 tonnes and 20,215 tonnes of rapeseed oil reported during August and September 2021, respectively, and expected increase shipment during the next 2-3 months to fill the shortage of mustard oil," SEA said.

"In the past few months, there were frequent changes in policy for import duty on edible oils by the Government of India to check the rising prices of edible oils in the country," the association said.

Currently, the effective duty on crude palm oil is 24.75 per cent, while the duties on refined palmolien and refined palm oil are 35.75 per cent.

Crude soyabean and refined soyabean oil have an effective duty of 24.75 per cent and 35.75 per cent, respectively. Similarly, the effective duty on crude sunflower oil is 24.75 per cent and refined sunflower oil is 35.75 per cent.

The effective duty on crude rapeseed oil is 38.50 per cent and refined rapeseed oil is 49.50 per cent.

Indonesia and Malaysia are the major suppliers of RBD palmolein and crude palm oil to India. The country imports crude soybean degummed oil mainly from Argentina followed by Brazil, while crude sunflower oil is mainly imported from Ukraine followed by Russia and Argentina.