New Delhi: India's palm oil imports rose by 23 percent to 7,34,358 tonnes in June against the year-ago period on account of lower global prices, Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA) said Wednesday.
India, the world's leading vegetable oil buyer, had purchased 5,98,247 tonnes of palm oil in June last year.
Palm oil makes up 70 percent of the country's total vegetable oil imports. India meets 60 percent of its annual vegetable oil demand of 17-18 million tonnes via imports.
According to SEA, imports have increased due to fall in international prices. For instance, prices of RBD palmolein have dropped by 19 percent, crude palm oil (CPO) by 22 percent, crude soybean oil by 17 percent and crude sunflower oil by 2 percent in the last one year.
Similarly, rupee has also depreciated by 6.8 percent in the said period, it said in a statement.
Among palm oil products, import of CPO increased by 12 percent to 5,71,496 tonnes in June this year from 5,12,358 tonnes in the year-ago, while that of refined palm oil (RBD Palmolein) rose by 84 per cent to 1,47,813 tonnes from 80,391 tonnes during the period under review.
Among soft oils, import of soyabean oil rose by 55 percent to 1,54,090 tonnes in June from 99,682 tonnes, sunflower oil fell by 32 per cent to 1,05,100 tonnes from 1,55,475 tonnes, while rapeseed oil shipments were 20,450 tonnes in the said period.
The country's total vegetable oil imports increased by 15 percent to 10,16,297 tonnes in the June this year from 8,83,679 tonnes in the year-ago period.
For November-June period of 2014-15 year, vegetable oil imports increased to 88,49,821 tonnes from 70,82,220 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.
