Chicago – February 05, 2025
India’s palm oil imports in January plunged to their lowest level in nearly 14 years as refiners replaced the tropical oil with cheaper rival soyoil because of negative refining margins for palm oil, five dealers said.
Lower palm oil imports by India, the world’s biggest buyer of vegetable oils, could weigh on benchmark Malaysian palm oil prices, but support U.S. soy oil futures.
Palm oil imports plunged 46% in January from the previous month to 272,000 metric tons, the lowest since March 2011, according to estimates from dealers.
India imported an average of more than 750,000 tons of palm oil every month in the marketing year that ended in October 2024, says trade body the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India, which is set to publish its January import data by mid-February.
