Excessive import of crude palm oil (CPO) in the previous two months and higher prices of soft oils such as sunflower seem to have impacted the import of edible oils.

The import of edible oils came down by 26.89 per cent in February 2021 and 3.85 per cent in the first five months of the oil year 2020-21.

According to the data compiled by Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) of India, the country imported 796,568 tonnes of edible oil in February 2021 against 1,089,661 tonnes in the corresponding period of 2020; and 4,454,588 tonnes during November-February 2020-21 against 4,282,693 tonnes in November-February of 2019-20.

BV Mehta, Executive Director of SEA of India, told BusinessLine that CIF value for sunflower oil is at $1,765 a tonne now. Terming it as the highest in the last 13 years, he said the import of sunflower oil has reduced drastically now.

The average CIF value of imported crude sunflower oil was $1,400/tonne in February and $1,319 in January. The import of sunflower oil stood at 7,70,364 tonnes during November-February 2020-21 (9,89,565 tonnes in November-February of 2019-20).

He said there was excessive import of palm oil during December-January period. As a result, there is stock of this commodity in the market. The country imported 7,70,392 tonnes of palm oil in December and 7,80,741 tonnes in January. However, it imported only 3,94,495 tonnes of palm oil in February.

“Since the prices have gone up significantly, people are operating at the lowest inventory. Earlier they used to buy and keep it for 20-30 days stock,” Mehta said, adding that the high price of edible oil is sinking the consumption.

OUTLOOK

Asked if the overall import will go up in the coming months, he said the country imported around 13.2 million tonnes of vegetable oils in the last oil year. He opined that the country may import at that level or lower than that during the current year.

Giving reasons for this, he said the country has seen good soyabean crop and good groundnut crop this year, and it is expecting a good mustard crop. “So the availability of local oil is bound to increase by about 1-1.5 million tonnes this year. Because of the Covid and the high price the demand is squeezed,” he said.

The high price is supporting the farmers. Today, the price of soyabean is at around ₹5,350 per quintal against the MSP of ₹3,880, and RM seed is at around ₹5,800 against the MSP of ₹4,650 per quintal. So farmers are getting the best price now, he said.

TOTAL VEGOIL IMPORT

SEA of India’s data showed that the import of vegetable oils (which includes edible and non-edible oils) stood at 8,38,607 tonnes in February 2021 against 1,112,478 tonnes in February 2020, recording a decline of 25 per cent.

The overall import of vegetable oils was at 4,394,760 tonnes during November-February 2020-21 compared to 4,563,791 tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year, recording a decline of 3.7 per cent.

Import of veg oils in February (in tonnes)

Edible oil import (in tonnes)

(Source: SEA of India)

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