India, the world’s largest vegetable oil importer, is expected to buy more soyoil in 2024, while palm oil sales will likely fall, news agency Reuters reported on Monday.
According to Sandeep Bajoria, CEO of Sunvin Group, a vegetable oil brokerage and advisory business, India’s soyoil imports would increase to 4.3 million metric tonnes in the 2023/24 marketing year, up from 3.5 million in 2022/23.
Palm oil imports will be 9.2 million tonnes in 2023/24, down from 10 million tonnes in 2022/23, according to Bajoria, speaking on the sidelines of the Palm and Lauric Oils Price Outlook 2024.
According to dealers, the recent transition from palm oil to soyoil has been spurred by negative refining margins in palm oil vs good margins in soyoil.
Lower imports of palm oil by India may keep stockpiles high in key producers Indonesia and Malaysia, weighing on benchmark futures.
Bajoria stated that India’s sunflower oil imports will stay around 3 million tonnes for the current marketing year, bringing the country’s total vegetable oil imports to 16.5 million tonnes in 2023/24, unchanged from the previous year.
India’s imports of soybean, cottonseed, rice bran, and mustard oils were currently limited due to local supply. However, Bajoria expects palm oil imports to increase from May to July.
According to Bajoria, the country’s palm oil imports are likely to range between 700,000 and 750,000 tonnes per month in May, June, and July.
In January, India’s palm oil imports fell more than 12% from the previous month, reaching a three-month low of 782,983 tonnes.
India mostly imports palm oil from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, as well as soybean and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia, and Ukraine.
