Lower palm oil imports by India, the world’s biggest buyer of vegetable oils, could boost inventories in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia and pressure benchmark Malaysian palm oil futures.

Palm oil imports in the 2024/25 marketing year ended in October fell 15.9% from a year ago to 7.58 million metric tons, the lowest since 2019/20, the Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) of India said in a statement.

Soy oil imports in the year jumped 59% to a record 5.47 million tons, while sunflower oil purchases fell 16.3% to 2.9 million tons, the SEA said.

For most of the marketing year, palm oil traded at a premium to soy oil, prompting refiners to switch to soy oil, said B V Mehta, Executive Director of the SEA.

India’s total vegetable oil imports in the year rose marginally to 16.36 million tons from the previous year’s 16.23 million tons the SEA said. Palm oil’s share in India’s total vegetable oil imports dropped to a record low of 47% from 56% last year, while soy oil and sunflower oil together gained ground, rising to a combined share of 53% from 44%.

India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, and imports soy oil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.

India’s refined vegetable oil imports from Nepal rose sharply to a record 746 400 tons, as the Himalayan nation’s exports enjoy duty-free access under a regional trade pact, Mehta said.

India spent a record 1.61 trillion rupees on vegetable oil imports in 2024/25, surpassing last year’s 1.32 trillion Rupees ($14.8 billion), the SEA said.

–Reuters–