Argentina, which supplies 65 per cent of the soybean oil that India buys, cut its prices following Indian importers’ purchase of the edible oil from China
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Indian importers have paused buying soybean oil from China after signing deals to import a record of about 1.5 lakh tonnes last month as Argentina has cut its offer prices, two sources involved in the purchases have said.
“We have not bought any soybean oil from China after last month’s purchase. They are not showing interest in selling,” said one of the sources.
The sources said Argentina, which supplies 65 per cent of the soybean oil that India buys, cut its prices following Indian importers’ purchase of the edible oil from China.
9 Indian firms sign deals
“Chinese sellers raised the prices, on the other hand. But in global trade, these $10-15 is nothing,” said the second source.
Currently, the landed cost of degummed soybean oil in Mumbai is $1,205 a tonne, data from the Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) showed. Prices are up nearly 2 per cent from a week ago and over 18.5 per cent from a year ago. The buyers signed the deals to import soybean oil from China when prices were ruling at current levels. In contrast, landed prices of RBD palm oil is currently $1,105 a tonne.
Nine Indian companies, including Patanjali Foods, Adani Wilmar and multinational companies such as Cargill, Bunge, ADM and Louis Dreyfuss, signed deals with two Chinese exporters to import soyabean oil between September and December this year.
Buyers turning smart
On the other hand, Nepal continues to export refined soybean oil, besides sunflower and rapeseed oils, to India under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement.
BV Mehta, Executive Director, SEA, said Indian buyers have become smart in sourcing cooking oils at a competitive price. “Our buyers source the oil even from Vietnam, where multinational Bunge has set up a crushing plant,” he said.
Countries such as China and Vietnam are importing soybeans to crush them for the soymeal, used as an animal feed. The oil derived from the crushing is exported.
DN Pathak, Executive Director of Soyabean Processors Association of India, who was here to attend the US Soybean Export Council’s Soy Connext 2025, said if Chinese prices are at par with Argentine prices, Indian imports would look to China as it can be shipped within three weeks against six weeks from Argentina.
Deluge of Nepal exports
Mehta concurred with the view, saying shipments of cooking oil from countries such as Vietnam take only 10 days compared with 45-60 days for consignments from Argentina.
The SEA Executive Director said Nepal’s exports of refined soybean, sunflower and rapeseed oils to India were 5.20 lakh tonnes between November 2025 and June 2025. Of this, soybean oil accounted for 4.03 lakh tonnes.
“Degummed soybean oil is exported to India after it is refined,” said Mehta.
Indications are that the buyers could return to China depending on developments in the market.
In the US, more soybean crushing plants are being set up after the Biden administration’s mandate for using soybean oil in biofuel in 2021.
US crushing capacity up
Bruna Coletti, oilseeds analyst at Cargill Inc., told the Soy Connext 2025 that 8 new plants have been set in the US since 2023, and seven more are in the pipeline. Two of them will likely be set up by the year-end.
In 2024, the US exported 4.6 lakh tonnes of soybean oil valued at $523.99 million. However, by February this year, the US shipped out 7.64 lakh tonnes – a 12-year high. India accounted for 20 per cent of this, data show.
According to SEA data, India imported 1.88 lakh tonnes of soybean oil from the US between November 2024 and July 2025. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) expects that in 2025-26, soybean crushing is expected to account for 57 percent of US soybean production, up more than 10 percentage points from 2017/18. The US is projected to produce 117 million tonnes of soybean in the 2025-26 season, beginning September.
The write was in the US at the invitation of USSEC
Published on August 25, 2025
