New Delhi: Palm oil imports fell 21.25 percent to 6,58,670 tonnes in January due to spurt in global prices of crude palm oil (CPO), Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA) said Friday.
India, the world's largest buyer of vegetable oils, had purchased 8,36,447 tonnes of palm oils in December 2014.
Palm oils make up 70 per cent of the country's total vegetable oil imports and 60 percent of India's annual vegetable oil demand of 17-18 million tonnes is met via imports.
According to SEA, import of CPO fell over 25 percent to 5,80,695 tonnes in January this year from 7,78,815 tonnes in December 2014 due to increase in global prices.
Global palm oil prices were on a declining trend for last couple of months due to zero export duty imposed by Indonesia and Malaysia to clear their surplus stocks, and sluggish demand of CPO for bio-diesel production.
But in January, CPO prices inched up on reports of output fall in Malaysia. At Indian port, CPO was costing USD 665 per tonne in January, against USD 657 per tonne in December 2014.
Besides CPO, import of Crude Palm Kernel Oil (CPKO) also declined to 7,998 tonnes in January from 12,601 tonnes in the previous month, as per SEA data.
However import of refined palm oil (RBD palmolein) increased to 69,977 tonnes in January this year from 45,031 tonnes in the previous month.
Palm oil products comprise of CPO, RBD palmolein, CPKO and crude olien.
However, import of soft oils, comprising soyabean and sunflower, more than doubled to 4,24,000 tonnes in January from 2,85,143 tonnes in the previous month, the data showed.
The country's total vegetable oil imports increased by 17 percent to 3,424,986 tonnes in the November-January period of this year, against 2,917,832 tonnes in the year-ago period.
India imports palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia and a small quantity of crude soft oils, including soyabean oil, from Latin America. Sunflower oil is imported from Ukraine and Russia.
