Higher palm oil imports by India, the world’s largest buyer of vegetable oils, could help reduce inventories in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia, supporting benchmark Malaysian palm oil futures while pressuring U.S. soyoil futures .
India imported 766,384 metric tons of palm oil last month, the highest since September 2025, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) said on Friday.
Imports of soyoil declined more than 44% to 278,888 tons, the lowest since June 2024, and sunflower oil imports fell 23.8% to 266,575 tons, the industry trade body said.
India’s total edible oil imports in January fell 3.7% from a month earlier to 1.31 million tons due to lower imports of soyoil and sunflower oil, the data showed.
Vegetable oil stocks in India fell to 1.75 million tons, as of February 1, down from 2.18 million tons a year earlier, weighed down by lower imports in recent months, the SEA said.
“Palm oil is currently trading at a discount of over $100 per ton to soyoil, making it a much more attractive option for Indian refiners,” said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trade house.Palm oil imports are expected to exceed 800,000 tons in February as Indian buyers shift from expensive sunflower oil to the more affordable palm oil, he said.
India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, and imports soyoil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.