India's vegetable oil processors are calling on their government to avoid further palmolein import licenses to prevent rapeseed prices from coming under pressure on the local market.
The subcontinent India is the world's largest importer of palm oil. It is an alternative to rapeseed oil, which is produced by local farmers. Last week, the government issued import licenses for 1.1 million tons of refined palm oil from Indonesia, although a few weeks ago these imports were banned by the government in New Delhi. The head of government of Malaysia had been critical of India's immigration policy.
The rapeseed harvest in India begins in March. The industry association Solvent Extractors yesterday asked the Minister of Economy to limit palmolein imports, otherwise rapeseed farmers would suffer financial losses from their rapeseed crop.
The government of India has promoted domestic vegetable oil production in recent years to reduce dependence on imports. India's palm oil imports fell 27% in January compared to the same month last year, partly due to politically motivated restrictions on imports.
In the marketing year 2018/19, which ended in October, India imported 9.4 million tons of palm oil, including 2.72 million tons of palm oil. These imports account for up to 2/3 of India's vegetable oil imports. Palm oil for India comes almost exclusively from Malaysia and Indonesia, the world's top producers of this vegetable oil.
Source
HANSA Terminhandel
