India's June vegetable oil imports fall 29% on shrinking palm oil discount: SEA

New Delhi, India's vegetable oil imports fell 29 per cent year-on-year in June to 11.46 lakh tonne, the lowest level since the start of the current oil year, as palm oil was available on less discount as compared to others like soybean, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said on Tuesday.

India, the world's biggest importer of edible oils, had bought 16.16 lakh tonne in June 2025. Oil year runs from November to October.

Despite the decline in June, the cumulative import in the first eight months of the 2025-26 oil year (November 2025-June 2026) rose to 105.7 lakh tonne, from 99.55 lakh tonne a year earlier.


"The latest figures indicate that while vegetable oil imports have remained higher overall during the current oil year, the substantial decline in June has moderated the pace of cumulative growth," the SEA said in a statement.

The June decline was driven mainly by a 10.5 per cent month-on-month drop in palm oil imports to 487,000 tonne. Crude palm oil imports fell to 488,863 tonne from 546,456 tonne in May.

Soybean oil imports dropped 23 per cent to 381,000 tonnes in June from 494,000 tonne in May, as palm oil's discount as compared to others narrowed to below USD 50 a tonne, the SEA said.

Sunflower oil imports, however, rose to 242,870 tonne in June from 195,726 tonne in May.

Imports of refined cooking oils were nil for a second straight month.

Total vegetable oil stocks stood at 20.09 lakh tonnes as of July 1, down from 22.16 lakh tonne a year earlier, reflecting the lower June imports.

The SEA said Nepal continued to ship significant volumes of refined oils to India, which pays no import duty on Nepalese oil under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) pact.

Nepal exported about 338,854 tonne of refined oils to India between November 2025 and April 2026, mostly refined soyoil, along with sunflower oil, RBD palmolein and rapeseed oil.

Exports were estimated at about 54,000 tonnes in May and 32,000 tonnes in June, the SEA said.

India primarily imports palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, and soyabean oil from Argentina and Brazil.