Soybean Oil Imports Likely To Cross 1.5 Million Tonne In India

Soybean oil imports are likely to cross 1.5 million tonne in the country due to lower crushing of domestic oilseeds in the current marketing year.

Soybean oil imports jumped 112% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 52,286 tonne between November 2013 and March 2014, data from Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) showed. For the period under consideration, total edible oil imports declined 5.4% y-o-y to 4.25 million tonne, SEA data showed.

Soybean oil production is likely to be lower by around 8% in the current year, according to estimates made by COOIT (Central Organization for Oil Industry & Trade). "We believe this would lead to more imports as consumption is steadily growing," said Raju Choksi, vice-president (Agri-Commodities), Anil Nutrients, a food processing and commodities trading company.

"For the rest of the period, we expect imports to be around 1 MMT (million metric tonnes), taking marketing year imports to 1.5 MMT," he said. Another reason for the rise in imports of soybean oil is the increase in palm oil prices, which contribute to more than 70% of total edible oil imports in the country.

"Since last month, the spread between palm oil and soybean oil has gone down significantly, thereby encouraging soybean oil imports over palm oil," Choksi said.

According to rabi estimate of COOIT for the 2013-14 season, 89.8 million tonne of soybean will be available for crushing as compared to 97 million tonne that was available last year.

According to the second advance estimates of the government, soybean production this year is estimated at 12.45 million tonne against 14.67 million tonne in 2012-13.

Source:- timesofindia.indiatimes.com