MUMBAI: India's import of edible oils grew by 39.31 per cent in June to 13.11 lakh tonnes compared to the same month last year due to increased demand, industry body Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said on Friday.
Edible oil import in June 2022 stood at 9.41 lakh tonnes, SEA said in a statement.
The overall imports of vegetable oils (edible and non-edible) grew by 49 per cent to 13.14 tonnes in June compared to 9.91 lakh tonnes in the corresponding month last year.
The imports consisted of 2,900 tonnes of non-edible oils which are mainly imported by soap and oleo-chemical industries.
With a sharp reduction in domestic prices of edible oils, demand has returned which is evident from the rising import in spite of better domestic availability, the SEA added.
The import of crude palm oil recovered to 4.66 lakh tonnes in June compared to 3.48 lakh tonnes in the previous month.
The import of RBD Palmolien jumped to 2.17 lakh tonnes from 85,000 tonnes in the previous month, indicating a sharp recovery in palm products in June.
However, imports of sunflower oil declined to 1.90 lakh tonnes compared to 2.95 lakh tonnes in the previous month, the data revealed.
SEA further noted that the import of palm oil from Indonesia has surged to 4.76 lakh tonnes, while the share of Malaysia was hardly at 1.54 lakh tonnes.
The soybean oil import from Brazil is rising and reported at 1.65 lakh tonnes during June 2023 and overall import of soybean oil from the Latin American country during November-June increased to a record level of 9.73 lakh tonnes compared to 7.20 lakh tonnes in the previous year.