India’s vegetable oil imports in November surges 40% to 1.63 million, reveals SEA – CNBC TV18

Vegetable oil imports in India surged to a record high of 1.63 million tonnes in November, the first month of the 2024–25 oil marketing year, according to industry data.

Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) data released on Thursday showed a 40% year-on-year (YoY) increase in India’s vegetable oil import to 1.63 million tonnes as compared to 1.16 million tonnes in November 2024. This was on the back of a sharp jump in the import of crude soybean and crude sunflower oil.

SEA data also showed that the November edible oil import stood at 1.6 million tonnes as compared to 1.1 million tonnes a year ago.

In the edible oil category, India imported 4,07,648 tonnes of crude soybean oil in November 2024, as per the data. This marks a sharp increase of around 172% against the 1,49,894 tonnes imported a year ago.

During the month, India imported 3,40,660 tonnes of sunflower oil, marking a year-on-year increase of 164.7%. In November 2023, the import numbers stood at 1,28,707 tonnes, according to SEA data.

The import of RBD palmolein in November 2024 saw an increase of 66.32% to 2,84,537 tonnes. This is a sharp increase from the 1,71,069 tonnes that India imported a year ago.

The import of crude palm oil, however, declined in November this year, SEA data showed. Crude palm oil import was at 5,47,309 tonnes as compared to 692,423 tonnes a year ago, marking a decrease of 21% on a yearly basis.

The edible oil stock at ports across India as of December 1, 2024, stood at 9,98,000 tonnes, while the stock in the pipeline was 1.6 million tonnes during the same time.

The oil marketing year goes on from November to October.