Achieving the Goals of the National Edible Oil Mission is Essential

26-Dec-2025 09:19 PM

New Delhi: The central government has activated the National Edible Oil-Oilseeds Mission and has begun working on its various schemes. Under this mission, the goal is to reduce dependence on edible oil imports from the current level of 57 percent to 28 percent in the next six to seven years.

Industry and trade analysts say that it is extremely important for this mission to achieve its goals because the demand and consumption of edible oils in the country are increasing rapidly, but oilseed production is not keeping pace.

India is the fifth-largest economy in the world in terms of oilseeds and oils, while it remains the number one country in the world for edible oil imports.

Every year, a huge quantity of palm oil is imported from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, soybean oil from Argentina and Brazil, and sunflower oil from Russia, Ukraine, and Argentina.

There are many challenges and obstacles in increasing oilseed production in India, which this mission will attempt to address.

While the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for oilseed crops is increased in line with rising costs, there is insufficient government procurement of oilseeds at this price.

As a result, farmers have to struggle to get a profitable price for their produce. Soybean is a prime example of this, with its wholesale market price consistently remaining well below the Minimum Support Price for a long time.

Groundnut prices also initially declined but have now started to improve. Similarly, mustard prices fell below the MSP in March-April 2025 due to a strong influx of the new crop, but the market started to pick up from May onwards.

To keep oilseed prices above the MSP, the government will have to make serious efforts to curb the rapidly increasing imports of edible oils.