Vegetable oil imports at record high in Aug.

New Delhi: India's import of vegetable oils crossed a record 1 million tonne in August as stockists and processors purchased heavily to meet the increased demand ahead of festival season.

According to the latest data from the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEAI), import of 1.06 million tonne of vegetable in August 2010 mainly consisting of edible oil is the highest in a single month since the government allowed import of crude vegetable oil for meeting the domestic demand in 1994.

In India, edible oil demand usually jumps ahead of festivals and marriage as consumption of fried eatables rises.

SEA said India imported around 64,000 tonne of non-edible oil in August which is an increase of 64% compared to same month last year. About 1.3 lakh tonne of RBD palmolein, 5.4 lakh tonne of crude palm oil and 2.1 lakh tonne of soyabean oil were imported during the month. SEA said around 6.8 lakh tonne of edible oil stock was at ports and about 7 lakh tonne were in the pipeline at the start of this month.

In August, 2009, edible oil imports stood at 6.12 lakh tonne, while non-edible oil shipments amounted to 37,705 tonne, the industry body said.

India imports palm oils from Indonesia and Malaysia, while soyaoil and sunflower oil are sourced from Argentina and Brazil. India, the second-biggest vegetable oil consumer after China, had imported a record 8.6 million tonne of vegetable oil in the 2008-09 oil year.

FE recently reported that the retail prices of edible oil in the domestic market are expected to stable during next six months despite demand rising.

"We have enough stocks of crude edible oil (mostly palm and soyabean) at ports and pipelines for dealing with the rise in demand during coming festival season," Siraj Chaudhry, CEO of refined oils, Cargill India, had said.

An FE analysis showed that retail prices of refined soybean oil have been in the range of Rs 49 to Rs 55 a litre during last one year. “Although the global crude edible oil prices have moved up marginally by about 7% during last few months, but there is no cause of concern for the next few months,” Chaudhry had said.

Source : financialexpress.com