Soybean oil imports to rise on lower domestic output

KOLKATA: Soybean oil imports by India this marketing year is likely to cross 1.5 million tons or 15 lakh tons due to lower domestic oilseeds crushing.

Soybean oil imports during November 2013 to March 2014 rose by 112% to 5,28,286 tons compared to 2,48,728 tons imported during corresponding period of last year, the data from Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) showed.

For the period under consideration, total edible oil imports fell 5.4% to 4.25 million tons as against 4.49 million tons in the corresponding period of last year, SEA data showed.

For this year, soybean oil production is likely to be lower by around 8% as per COOIT's estimate. "We believe this would lead to more imports as consumption is steadily growing. For the rest of the period, we expect imports to be around 10 lakh tonnes, taking marketing year imports to 15 lakh tonnes", Raju Choksi, Vice-President (Agri-Commodities), Anil Nutrients Ltd. said.

Mr. Choksi said another reason for rise in imports of soybean oil is rise in palm oil prices, which contributes 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 ", Mr. Choksi added.

According to rabi estimate of COOIT (Central Organization for Oil Industry & Trade) for 2013-14 season, 89.8 MT of soybean will be available for crushing as compared to 97 MT that was available last year. As per second advance estimates of Government, soybean production this year is estimated at 12.45 million tonnes against 14.67 million tonnes in 2012-13.