To ensure domestic supplies and control inflation, the edible oil industry has urged the government to subsidise the freight cost for import of edible oil, while providing ‘priority berthing status’ to vessels importing cooking oils.
The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) in a communication to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Commerce minister Piyush Goyal, has urged higher incentives for the export of agricultural produce such as oilmeals and interest subvention of 5% for export of oil meals.
Industry has stated that freight rates have nearly doubled in some corridors—shipments from Argentina to Kandla or Mundra ports have risen from about $ 70–75 a tonne to $ 140-145/tonne, while Russia-origin cargoes have increased from around $55/tonne to $ 90–95/tonne. Even freight from Malaysia and Indonesia have seen an uptick in freight from $ 40/tonne to $ 55/tonne.
SEA has also stated that with fossil fuels becoming costly, many countries have increased biodiesel blending mandates to cushion the impact domestically. Indonesia has announced 50% blending as of 1st July, and Malaysia has increased to 15% blending of Palm from 10%.
“All these measures, coupled with an increase in ocean freight, have seriously impacted the landed cost of imported edible oils in India,” the association stated.
And the current landed costs of these edible oils (crude) according to SEA data for May 8 have increased by 20% (palm), 17% (soybean) and 16% (sunflower) to $1250/tonne, $1295/tonne and $1325/tonne respectively compared to prices prevailing a year ago.
Shortage of handy and small-sized vessels
The edible oil processing industry has also raised the issue of acute shortage of handy and small-sized vessels, which are typically preferred for palm oil shipments. This has reduced flexibility in procurement, delayed cargo movements, and forced importers to rely on larger vessels with higher freight exposure, it stated.
SEA also stated that while ongoing conflict in West Asia has created uncertainty in the global edible oil market, higher global prices and supply disruptions have improved the viability of the domestic crushing industry.
“Domestic edible oil prices are moving in tandem with imported oil prices, thereby supporting mustard prices, which is now quoted at Rs 7000/- per quintal against the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs. 6200/- per quintal. The month of April 2026 has seen a record crushing of 1.6 million tonne of rapeseed-mustard, ultimately helping to checkmate imported edible oil prices,” the communication has stated.
The current all India average retail price of major variants of cooking oils, according to the Department of Consumer Affairs on Monday, is up between 7-12% versus last year. While soybean is up 8% y-o-y to Rs 159 a litre, mustard is up 12% y-o-y (Rs 189 a litre); sunflower is up 8% y-o-y (Rs 187 a litre).
India imports around 57% of its edible oil requirement. Palm, soybean and sunflower account for the bulk of consumption of around 25 – 26 million tonne (MT).
The country imports oils from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Ukraine, Russia and Argentina. India produces oils such as mustard, soybean and groundnut.