India Receives 5.21 Lakh Tonnes Edible Oil from Nepal in 8 Months

14-Aug-2025 04:51 PM

Mumbai. Although India's northern neighbor Nepal produces very limited oilseed oil, it imports crude edible oils from abroad and processes it in its units and then exports most of the refined edible oils to India.

Under the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) treaty, there is no customs duty on edible oil imported from Nepal to India and Nepal is taking undue advantage of this exemption. Due to this, Indian refiners are suffering huge losses.

According to the available information, during the first eight months of the current marketing season i.e. from November 2024 to June 2025, a total of about 5.21 lakh tonnes of edible oil was exported from Nepal to India, which includes refined category palmolein, soybean oil and sunflower oil as well as mustard-rapeseed oil.

Nepal exported about 23 thousand tonnes of edible oil to India in November 2024, 44 thousand tonnes in December, 71 thousand tonnes in January 2025, 78 thousand tonnes in February, 75 thousand tonnes in March, 83 thousand tonnes in April, 80 thousand tonnes in May and 67 thousand tonnes in June.

The interesting fact is that the production of mustard-rapeseed is very low in Nepal and it imports it from India. Rapeseed oil is also imported from abroad in small quantities.

Nepal's focus is mainly on the export of refined soybean oil. This is confirmed by the data. From there, 16 thousand tonnes of refined soybean oil was sent to India in November 2024 and 36 thousand tonnes in December, while its quantity increased to 62 thousand tonnes in January 2025, 70 thousand tonnes in February,

67 thousand tonnes in March, 77 thousand tonnes in April and 75 thousand tonnes in May. In comparison, the export of RBD palmolein, refined sunflower oil and mustard-rapeseed oil is very less.

Nepal imports crude soybean oil from Brazil and Argentina as well as China. The indigenous industry is strongly demanding to curb the import of Nepali edible oils.