Signs of a sharp decline in palm oil imports in October
11-Nov-2025 01:17 PM
New Delhi. India's palm oil imports are expected to decline to a five-month low in October 2025 due to improved stock positions and weakening demand.
The global market price of palm oil also remained relatively high. Industry and trade analysts estimate that India's total edible oil imports during October 2025 were between 1.25 million and 1.28 million tonnes, a 10-12 percent decrease from October 2024.
Previously, edible oil imports had reached a high of 1.6 million tonnes in September 2025. Including non-edible oils, gross vegetable oil imports were recorded at 1.64 million tonnes.
Data from the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SOAI), a leading industry body, shows that total vegetable oil imports into the country declined to 14.3 million tonnes during the first 11 months of the 2024-25 marketing season (November-October), i.e.,
from November 2024 to September 2025, a decrease of 3% or 0.5 million tonnes from the 14.8 million tonnes imported during the same period in the 2023-24 season. The association is expected to release October import data in the next few days, providing a reliable picture of edible oil imports for the entire 2024-25 season.
According to a leading analyst, the decline in edible oil imports in October is primarily due to lower palm oil imports.
High palm oil prices reduced Indian refiners' interest in purchasing it. Harvesting for the Kharif oilseed crop also began in October, leading to increased supply and availability of edible oil from domestic sources.
But India showed great enthusiasm in purchasing soybean oil due to which its import is estimated to increase by more than 20 percent to reach a high level of 4.25 lakh tonnes. In fact, due to the significant reduction in the price difference between palm oil and soybean oil, consumers' inclination towards soybean oil increased.
In September, the average unit import cost of palm oil increased by 9 percent compared to last year and reached $1164 per tonne, whereas the import cost of crude soybean oil was $1182 per tonne.
In this way, the difference in import price between the two edible oils has come down to less than $20 per tonne, whereas earlier this difference had reached $120-140 per tonne.