New Delhi: India imported huge quantities of vegetable oil increased by about 13 percent to over 11 lakh tonnes in March to curb rising edible oil prices. The Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) said that in March, 2022, imports were 11,04,570 tonnes (including edible oil and non-edible oil), as compared to 9,80,243 tonnes in March 2021. Edible oil imports increased to 10,51,698 tonnes in March, 2022 from 9,57,633 tonnes in the same period a year ago. On the other hand, the import of non-edible oil increased from 22,610 tonnes to 52,872 tonnes in the same period.
Gross import of vegetable oils
The total imports of vegetable oils during the first five months of the oil year 2021-22 from November 2021 to March, 2022 increased to 57,95,728 tonnes as compared to 53,75,003 tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year. During the first five months of the oil year 2021-22, the import of refined edible oil increased to 7,71,268 tonnes from 24,101 tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year. Crude edible oil imports declined to 48,71,650 tonnes from 52,16,225 tonnes.
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Light oil imports increased
SEA said that during November 2021 to March 2022, palm oil imports declined to 26,53,253 tonnes from 30,90,559 tonnes during November 2020 to March 2021. On the other hand, light oil imports increased to 29,89,665 tonnes from 21,49,767 tonnes in November, 2020 to March, 2021. The main reason for this was the high import of soybean oil.
2,12,000 tonnes of sunflower oil arrived by ship in March
The association said that during the last month, 2,12,000 tonnes of sunflower oil arrived by ship. The consignment of this import had already left for India before the start of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The imports came mainly from Ukraine (1,27,000 tonnes), Russia (73,500 tonnes) and Argentina (11,900 tonnes).
India depends on edible oil imports to meet its vegetable and edible oil demands. This year even Indonesia the largest exporter of palm oil is suffering from low er output. However, India has been pushing for more acreage of oilseeds planting by incentivizing farmers to end their dependency on imports.
