The edible oils import declined by 34% to 7,90,377 tonne during April, mainly due to logistics related issues during the lockdown, industry body Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) said on Wednesday.
Import of palm oils showed a drastic decline in April, while shipment of soft oils like soybean and sunflower oils rose, it said in a statement. The imports in April 2020 was reported at 790,377 tonne as compared to 941,219 tonne in March 2020 and 1,198,763 tonne in April 2019, down by 34% on y-o-y basis.
The drop in April is mainly due to logistics issues at destinations as well as at discharge ports, a statement released by the association said.
India had imported 11,98,763 tonne of edible oils during April 2019. Among palm oils, import of RBD palmolein fell 87% to 29,750 tonne in April 2020 from 2,38,479 tonne in the corresponding month last year after the commodity was placed under a restrictive list of imports on January 8, 2020, SEA said.
Last year, Malaysia had shipped excessive RBD palmolein to India taking the benefit of lower duty concession, SEA said. Even import of crude palm oil and crude palm kernel oil registered 14% drop in inbound shipments during November-April period due to slump in demand in the lockdown period, the association noted.
According to SEA, the decline in palm oil imports has led to a rise in shipments of soft oils. Soybean and sunflower oil imports rose by 13% and 12%, respectively, in the six-month period, thanks to household demand for consumer packs. However, total shipment of edible oils fell by 14% to 61,82,184 tonne during November-April period of the 2019-20 oil year from 72,03,830 tonne in the year-ago period.