While India’s import of edible oils witnessed a marginal decline of 0.37 per cent during the oil year 2020-21 (November-October), the import bill went up by a whopping 63 per cent.

According to Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) data, India imported 13.13 million tonnes (mt) of edible oil during 2020-21 as against 13.18 mt in 2019-20.

In terms of value, the import of edible oils went up from ₹71,625 crore in 2019-20 to approximately ₹1,17,000 crore in 2021-21, a growth of 63 per cent.

BV Mehta, Executive Director of SEA, said that the frequent changes in import duty on edible oils by the government in last few months also disturbed the import pattern during 2020-21.

Palm oil

During oil year 2020-21, the import of palm oil (which includes RBD palmolien and CPO) increased sharply to 8.32 mt when compared to 7.21 mt during the previous year. He attributed the reasons such as the reduction in import duty on CPO (crude palm oil) and lifting of restriction on import of RBD palmolein for this.

Import of RBD palmolien saw a growth to 0.68 mt in 2020-21 against 0.42 mt in 2019-20. The import of CPO increased to 7.49 mt in 2020-21 as against 6.66 mt in 2019-20.

The average CIF price of the imported RBD palmolien went up from $798 a tonne in November 2020 to $1349 a tonne in October, recording an increase of around 69 per cent.

The average CIF price of the imported CPO went up from $774 a tonne in November 2020 to $1369 a tonne in October, recording an increase of around 76.87 per cent.

Soft oils

The import of soft oil decreased to 4.81 mt in 2020-21 from 5.95 mt in 2019-20. This included 2.86 mt (3.38 mt) of soyabean oil, 1.89 mt (2.51 mt) of sunflower oil, 0.52 lakh tonnes (0.55 lakh tonnes) of rapeseed oil.

The average CIF price of the imported crude soyabean oil went up from $879 a tonne in November 2020 to $1453 a tonne in October, recording an increase of 65.30 per cent.

The average CIF price of the imported crude sunflower oil went up from $1050 a tonne in November 2020 to $1457 a tonne in October, recording an increase of 38.76 per cent.

The average CIF price of the imported crude rapeseed oil went up from $1,020 a tonne in November 2020 to $1,466 a tonne in October, recording an increase of 43.72 per cent.

Palm vs. Soft oils

The share of palm oil in the total edible oil basket increased to 63 per cent in 2020-21 from 55 per cent in 2019-20, and the share of soft oils decreased to 37 per cent in 2020-21 from 45 per cent in the previous oil year.

Major exporters

Indonesia and Malaysia were the major suppliers of RBD palmolein and CPO to India during 2020-21. Malaysia supplied 3.58 mt of CPO and 1.89 lakh tonnes (lt) of RBD palmolein during the period. Indonesia followed it with exporting 3.42 mt of CPO and 4.86 lt of RBD palmolein.

In case of crude soyabean degummed oil, India imported from Argentina (2.38 mt) followed by Brazil (3.90 lt). India imported crude sunflower oil mainly from Ukraine (1.39 mt) followed by Russia (2.22 lt) and Argentina (2.24 lt).

Stock

As on November 1, the stock of edible oils was estimated at 5.65 lt at various ports. This included 1.90 lt of CPO, 1.65 lt of RBD palmolein, 1.10 lt of degummed soyabean oil, 85,000 tonnes of crude sunflower oil, and 15,000 tonnes of rapeseed oil. The pipeline stock was estimated at 1.1 mt as on November 1.

The stock decreased by 3 lt to 1.7 mt as on November 1 from 2 mt as on October 1. The stock was at 1.5 mt in November 2020.

Veg oils

The import of vegetable oils (which includes both edible and non-edible oils) increased marginally by 0.05 per cent during 2020-21. The country imported 13.53 mt of vegetable oils during the oil year 2020-21 as against 13.52 mt in 2019-20.

Non-edible oil

PFAD (palm fatty acid distillate) and RBD palm stearin are the major non-edible oils being imported by the soap and ole-chemical industry. Mehta said that import of non-edible oils increased by 15 per cent 2020-21. The country imported 3.99 lt of non-edible oils as against 3.49 lt in 2019-20.

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