In the oil year 2022–2023 India imported about ₹1.38 lakh crore of edible oil, compared to ₹1.57 lakh crore in 2021–2022 and ₹1.17 lakh crore in 2020–21.
India saw a growth of 17.39% in the amount of edible oil imported during the oil year 2022–23 (November to October) compared to 140.3 lt during the oil year 2021–22.
During the oil year 2022–2023 India imported about ₹1.38 lakh crore of edible oil in value, compared to ₹1.57 lakh crore in 2021–2022 and ₹1.17 lakh crore in 2020–21.
He claimed that the surge in imports has made India a sought-after location for surplus oil supplies. Interestingly, imports of RBD palmolein account for more than 25% of all imports of palm oil, which has a big effect on the domestic refining sector, which is struggling with a major underutilization of its installed capacity, he said.
From 47.46 lt in the first quarter of the oil year 2022–2023 to 32.55 lt in the second, the import of edible oil fell. The oil year 2022–2023 saw an increase to 41.20 lt in Q3 and 43.43 lt in Q4. Regarding the rise in edible oil imports in Q3, Mehta stated that demand was increased by the significant drop in edible oil prices at home during the quarter.
Up to palm oil
Due to price parity, imports of palm oil products increased significantly, with reports of 97.89 lt during the oil year 2022–2023 compared to 79.15 lt the year before. Of this, 75.9 lt of CPO (compared to 59.9 lt in the previous oil year) and 21.1 lt of RBD palmolein (18.4 lt) were present. Mehta claimed that because Indonesia was favoring CPO over RBD palmolein, imports of the latter had increased significantly.
Products made from palm oil now account for 59% of all edible oil imports, up from 56% previously.
Indonesia exported 17.66 lt of RBD palmolein and 37.50 lt of CPO to India in the oil year 2022–2023. During that time, Malaysia shipped 3.02 liters of RBD palmolein and 26.97 liters of CPO to India. In the year, Thailand—which is starting to establish itself as a consistent CPO supplier to India—sent 16,499 tonnes of RBD palmolein and 8.07 lt of CPO to the country.
Gentle oils
The percentage of soft oils in the total edible oil import basket dropped to 41% from 44%, despite a slight increase in soft oil imports overall. India imported 66.77 liters of soft oils in 2022–2023 as opposed to 61.15 liters in the oil year prior.
During that time, sunflower oil imports rose to 30.01 lt (19.44 lt). However, from 41.71 lt in the previous oil year to 36.76 lt in 2022–2023 was a decrease in soyabean oil imports.
Argentina supplied 18.47 liters of crude soya bean degummed oil to India, while Brazil supplied 14.45 liters. Russia exported 9.79 liters of crude sunflower oil throughout the year, with Romania (primarily from Ukraine) coming in second at 6.44 liters, Ukraine at 4.87 liters, and Argentina at 4.76 liters.
In the entire edible oil basket, the ratio of refined to crude oil was 13:87 during the 2022–2023 oil year. In 2019–20, the ratio was 3:97, and in 2020–21, it was 5:95.
To help local consumers, he said, the Center has lowered the import duty on edible oils from June 2021 to June 2023. At present, import duties on CPO, refined soy oil, and sunflower oil are 5.5%, while duties on RBD palmolein, refined soy oil, and sunflower oil are 13.75%.
vegetable oil
In the oil year 2022–2023 compared to the previous year’s 144.1 lt, the import of vegetable oils both edible and non-edible rose to 167.1 lt.
According to him, heavy domestic stockpiles and excessive imports in prior months were the main reasons for the decrease in vegetable oil imports, which fell to 10.30 lt in October 2023 from 13.96 lt in October 2022.
