NEW DELHI, March 12 — India’s palm oil imports dropped sharply in February 2021 compared with January 2021 in line with an overall decline in its monthly edible oil purchases.
The country imported 187,387 tonnes of Malaysian palm oil last month, comprising 176,887 tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO), 6,000 tonnes of RBD palmolein, and 4,500 tonnes of crude palm kernel oil (CPKO), according to industry data.
In January, India imported more than 500,000 tonnes of Malaysian palm oil.
Malaysia was India’s top supplier of palm oil since November last year, with CPO volumes exceeding 1.4 million tonnes, the Mumbai-based Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) said on Friday.
The country’s total edible oil imports in February fell about 25 per cent month-on-month to 796,568 tonnes compared to January, while its overall palm oil imports declined to 394,495 tonnes compared with 780,741 tonnes previously.
The SEA attributed the decline to the “disparity in refining of palm oil, lesser demand due to cold weather and also excessive import of CPO” in the previous two months.
