Argentina Overtakes Indonesia as India’s Top Edible Oil Supplier

14-Jul-2025 05:27 PM

Mumbai: For a long time, Indonesia had held the position as India’s largest supplier of edible oils. However, Argentina has now surpassed it. India mainly imports crude palm oil (CPO) and RBD palmolein from Indonesia, while crude soybean oil and sunflower oil are imported from Argentina. Palm oil is also sourced from Malaysia, Thailand, and a few other countries. Soybean oil comes from Brazil and Russia, while sunflower oil is imported from Russia, Ukraine, and others.

According to available data, during the first eight months of the current marketing season (November 2024 to June 2025), India imported around 92.08 lakh tonnes of edible oils. This included:

9.83 lakh tonnes of RBD palmolein,

32.59 lakh tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO),

44,000 tonnes of crude palm kernel oil,

30.30 lakh tonnes of crude soybean oil, and

18.93 lakh tonnes of crude sunflower oil.

During this period, India imported a total of 20.74 lakh tonnes of edible oil from Argentina, comprising 18.35 lakh tonnes of soybean oil and 2.39 lakh tonnes of sunflower oil. In contrast, imports from Indonesia included 12.49 lakh tonnes of crude palm oil, 7.32 lakh tonnes of RBD palmolein, and just 1,000 tonnes of crude palm kernel oil, bringing its total to 19.82 lakh tonnes, slightly less than Argentina.

Malaysia ranked third and Russia fourth in edible oil supplies to India during this period. From Malaysia, India imported 1.30 lakh tonnes of RBD palmolein, 13.92 lakh tonnes of CPO, and 35,000 tonnes of palm kernel oil, totaling 15.57 lakh tonnes. From Russia, 12.06 lakh tonnes of edible oil were imported, including 10.44 lakh tonnes of sunflower oil and 1.62 lakh tonnes of soybean oil.

Additionally, India imported:

6.81 lakh tonnes from Brazil,

4.67 lakh tonnes from Thailand,

4.5 lakh tonnes from Ukraine, and

6.97 lakh tonnes from other countries.

Due to the overall drop in India's edible oil imports this season, Indonesia slipped behind Argentina in the ranking of top suppliers.