Mangaluru
A decline in the import of palm oil and soybean oil led to a reduction in total edible oil shipments into India in June 2026.
According to the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), India imported 11.11 lakh tonne (lt) of edible oil in June 2026 against 15.97 lt in June 2025, registering a decline of 30 per cent.
BV Mehta, Executive Director of SEA, said the decline was primarily driven by a collapse in palm oil demand to 4.87 lt in June 2026 against 5.46 lt in May 2026 and 9.52 lt in June 2025.
He said soybean oil imports declined to 3.80 lt in June 2026 from 4.93 lt in May 2026. This decline was caused by the vanishing price discount of palm oil against soft oils (like soy), which dropped to under $50 a tonne, he said.
He said the drop in Indian buying is a ripple effect of simultaneous biofuel mandates introduced by Indonesia, Malaysia and the US. These policies are pulling millions of tonne of vegetable oils out of the food economy and into the fuel economy, driving up global spot prices.
Despite a decline in edible oil imports in June, cumulative imports during the first eight months of the oil year 2025-26 (November-October) remained higher than the corresponding period of the previous year. India imported 103.88 lt of edible oil during November-June of the oil year 2025-26 against 97.29 lt in the corresponding period of the previous oil year, registering a growth of 7 per cent.
Import from Nepal
Imports of refined oils from Nepal continued at significant levels. Nepal exported approximately 3.38 lt of refined oils to India during November-April 2025-26. This included 2.97 lt of refined soybean oil, 19,911 tonne of refined sunflower oil, 18,295 tonne of RBD palmolein and 3,081 tonne of rapeseed oil.
Nepal’s refined oil exports to India were estimated at around 54,000 tonne in May 2026, and 32,000 tonne in June 2026, consisting mainly of refined soybean oil, along with smaller quantities of sunflower oil and RBD palmolein. Nepal enjoys nil import duty under SAFTA agreement for export to India.
Refined vs crude
India imported only 3.68 lt of refined oil imported and 100.18 lt of crude edible oil during the first eight months of the oil year 2025-26 compared to 14.99 lt of refined oil and 82.29 lt of crude edible oil during the corresponding period of the previous oil year. The ratio of refined oil sharply decreased to 4 per cent from 15 per cent, while crude oil ratio is increased to 96 per cent from 85 per cent a year ago due to rise in import of crude palm oil.
Major exporters
Crude palm oil was the largest imported oil category at 49.42 lt during the first eight months of the oil year 2025-26, followed by crude and refined soybean oil (32.73 lt), and crude and refined sunflower oil (20.94 lt).
Malaysia exported 19.81 lt of palm oil to India. This included 19.58 lt of crude palm oil (CPO), 8,000 tonne of RBD palmolien. India imported 19.04 lt of palm oil from Indonesia. This included 18.79 lt of CPO and 24,983 tonne of RBD palmolein.
Argentina exported 18.54 lt of crude soybean oil 4.85 lt of and sunflower oil to India during the period. India imported 48,650 tonnes of crude soybean oil and 9.88 lt of sunflower oil from Russia during the period.
Mehta said smaller quantities were imported from Thailand, Brazil, Ukraine, China, Nepal, the UAE and other countries, reflecting a diversified sourcing pattern across different edible oils.
Price movement
A comparison of current edible oil prices with a year ago (June 2025) showed that the CPO prices increased by 17 per cent, RBD palmolein by 18 per cent, soybean oil prices by 14 per cent and sunflower oil prices by 19 per cent. Rupee depreciated by over 11 per cent in last one year, Mehta said, and termed it as a cause of concern to Indian importers and refiners.
Published on July 14, 2026
