The Hindu Business Line : Edible oil imports likely to rise; record soya crop forecast

Agri-Biz & Commodities - Oilseeds & Edible Oil
Industry & Economy - Exports & Imports

Edible oil imports likely to rise; record soya crop forecast

G. Chandrashekhar

Mumbai , Oct. 2

EDIBLE oil imports into the country were an estimated 6.26 lakh tonnes (lt) in September as per preliminary data made available to Business Line by the industry portal oilmandi.com.

Arrivals last month comprised mainly 2.44 lt of crude palm oil; 98,200 tonnes of crude palmolein; 64,000 tonnes of refined palmolein and 1.99 lt of degummed soyabean oil. Others included 7,000 tonnes of crude sunflowerseed oil and 13,000 tonnes of crude palm kernel oil. With September estimate available, imports during the first 11 months of the oil year 2003-04 (November-October) aggregated 37 lt, down at least 10 lt from 47 lt imported during the same period last year.

October arrivals are projected at about 4.5 lt, which would take the annual import to about 42 lt, broadly in line with trade expectation, down from 51 lt of last year.

The decline in imports is largely because of considerably improved domestic availability during the year.

Edible oil imports during the new oil year beginning November are, however, likely to be higher than for the previous year.

Kharif season oilseed crop conditions are not really favourable. A decline of 20-25 lt of oilseeds over the previous year is expected raise edible oil import requirement to over 50 lt next year.

Reports of Indian importers having booked more than 5 lt of crude palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia are doing the rounds of the market, while large parcels of refined soyabean oil have also been contracted for import, it is said.

The first estimate of soyabean output released by the Indore-based Soyabean Processors Association of India (SOPA) has placed production at a record 73.1 lt to be harvested from 74.5 lakh hectares with a yield of 981 kg/ha as compared with last year's 69.3 lt from 64.5 lakh ha with a yield of 1,074 kg/ha. (see table)

Madhya Pradesh with 42 lt and Maharashtra with a bumper crop of 23 lt accounted for the record size of output, the SOPA pointed out.

According to SOPA, the yield has been affected by a long dry spell during July-August, especially at the flowering and podding stage of the crop.

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Edible oil imports likely to rise; record soya crop forecast