Indian importers have cancelled at least 1.30 lakh tonnes (lt) of soybean oil deals with South American nations. This is mainly due to the depreciation of the rupee against the dollar and the price disparity between imported and domestic soybean oil. Brazil and Argentina are the major South American nations that supply soybean oil to India.
Sandeep Bajoria, Chief Executive Officer of Sunvin Group (a vegetable oil brokerage and consultancy firm), told businessline that India has cancelled about 45,000 tonnes of soybean oil deals for February, March and April shipments. Indian buyers cancelled around 85,000 tonnes of South American oil in December.
Rupee depreciation and disparity in price between South American and Indian soybean oils have been cited as reasons for this. South American soybean oil is higher by around $35 a tonne when compared to its domestic counterpart, he said.
Higher than CPO
The CIF price of soybean degummed crude oil was at $1,248 a tonne on January 22. According to the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), the average CIF value of crude soybean oil was $1,188 a tonne in December. In fact, soybean oil price in India was around $121 a tonne more than crude palm oil (CPO) on January 22.
The rupee exchange rate was ₹91.63 against the dollar on January 22. The average rupee exchange rate was ₹90.03 per dollar in December 2025, whereas it was ₹88.84 in November 2025. The average rupee exchange rate was ₹84.97 per dollar in December 2024.
On the other hand, soybean oil has been gaining since December as the US Environmental Protection Agency has propsed higher renewable fuel standard for 2026 and 2027. This has increased demand for bio-mass based diesel.
December boost
Chinese purchase of US soybeans to keep up its commitment to buy 12 million tonnes by February-end has also boosted the prices. In addition, imports of soybean oil by India increased 37 per cent in December 2025.
According to the Solvent Extractors Association of India, soybean oil imports in December increased to 5.05 lakh tonnes (lt) compared with 3.71 lt a year ago. However, it was a tad short for the November-December 2025 period compared with shipments a year ago. Argentina is the major supplier to India, exporting 5.92 lt during October-November, while another 1.05 lt came from China, while Brazil accounted for 98,500 tonnes.
On the domestic front, farmers in Madhya Pradesh are benefiting from the soybean Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana (BBY) for kharif 2025-26. Around 16 lt of soybean have already been sold by farmers under the scheme as of December 2025 against the approved quantity of 22 lt by the Madhya Pradesh government.
Win:win
Sanjeev Asthana, SEA President, said earlier this week that the reintroduced Bhavantar mechanism has once again created a win-win arrangement for farmers, industry and the government.
Farmers are protected against price distress and assured remunerative returns, while the processing industry is able to procure soybean at market-determined prices without supply disruptions or market distortions. At the same time, the Government avoids the logistical, storage and fiscal burdens associated with largescale physical procurement.
BBY is a price deficiency payment scheme under which farmers are assured the declared Minimum Support Price (MSP) for soybean without the Government resorting to physical procurement.
Under the scheme, if prevailing mandi prices fall below the MSP, the difference is directly credited to farmers’ Aadhaar-linked bank accounts through direct benefit transfer.
SEA data showed that India imported 8.75 lt of soybean oil during November-December of the oil year 2025-26 against 8.8 lt in the corresponding period of the previous oil year 2024-25. Oil year ranges from November to October.
Soybean prices in the domestic market have increased to levels of ₹5,200-5,250 from ₹4,500 a month ago. During the same period a year ago, soybean prices were ₹4,140 a quintal.
Published on January 23, 2026
