Soybean and sunflower oil shipments lift December volumes even as palm oil inflows slide sharply
India’s vegetable oil imports rose 8 per cent year-on-year to 13.83 lakh tonne in December 2025, supported by a strong increase in soybean and sunflower oil shipments, industry data showed.
According to the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), edible oil imports increased to about 13.62 lakh tonne during the month, an 18 per cent rise from November, while non-edible oil imports stood at 21,000 tonne.
Despite the December rebound, imports during the first two months of the 2025–26 oil year (November–October) declined 12 per cent year-on-year to 25.67 lakh tonne, or 2.57 million tonne, from 2.93 million tonne in the same period last year. Edible oil imports during November–December fell to 2.51 million tonne from 2.84 million tonne, indicating weaker cumulative buying.
The decline was largely driven by lower palm oil inflows, even as softer oils gained share in the import basket during the month.
Palm Oil Imports Fall, Share Declines
Palm oil imports contracted sharply in December, falling 20 per cent to 5.07 lakh tonne from 6.32 lakh tonne a year earlier. Imports were also lower sequentially compared with November. SEA said there were no imports of refined, bleached and deodorised (RBD) palmolein during the month, while crude palm oil shipments surged to 5.03 lakh tonne from 3.26 lakh tonne in December 2024.
For the two-month period, palm oil imports fell significantly, pulling down palm oil’s share in India’s edible oil basket to about 45 per cent during November–December 2025, compared with 47 per cent in the year-ago period.
Soft Oils Gain Ground
In contrast, soft oil imports gained market share. Soybean oil imports rose 20.23 per cent year-on-year to 5.05 lakh tonne in December, and were up 36 per cent from November levels. Port stocks of soybean oil increased to 3.00 lakh tonne from 2.65 lakh tonne a month earlier.
Sunflower oil imports jumped 32.19 per cent year-on-year to about 3.50 lakh tonne in December and more than doubled on a month-on-month basis. However, total sunflower oil imports for the first two months of the oil year declined to 4.92 lakh tonne from 6.05 lakh tonne in the year-ago period.
Edible Oil Stocks Climb
Imports of refined edible oils remained marginal, with only about 3,500 tonne brought in during November–December. Crude oils accounted for nearly the entire edible oil imports, with the refined-to-crude ratio plunging to around 0.14 per cent from 18 per cent in December 2024.
Non-edible oil imports fell sharply to 21,000 tonne in December from 45,764 tonne a year earlier.
On the supply side, Indonesia and Malaysia remained the dominant palm oil suppliers to India, while Argentina and Brazil accounted for most crude soybean oil shipments. Sunflower oil imports were largely sourced from Russia, Ukraine and Argentina.
Meanwhile, domestic oilseed availability improved, with the area sown under rabi oilseed crops rising 3.04 per cent year-on-year to 99.30 lakh hectare as of 2 January.
Total edible oil stocks at ports and in pipelines rose to 17.50 lakh tonne as of 1 January 2026, compared with 16.21 lakh tonne a month earlier. Port stocks were estimated at 9.58 lakh tonnes, while pipeline stocks stood at 7.92 lakh tonne, SEA data showed.
