India’s sunflower oil imports
are expected to drop around a tenth in 2025/26 to a four-year
low as a growing price premium over rivals pushes buyers towards
cheaper alternatives, trade officials said.
As a result, the world’s largest importer of vegetable oils
is likely to increase imports of palm oil, a shift that could
help reduce inventories in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia
and support benchmark Malaysian palm oil futures.
“With sunflower oil prices rising, India is now likely to
import only enough to meet its core demand of around
200,000–225,000 metric tonne per month,” said Aashish Acharya,
vice president at Patanjali Foods Ltd, a leading
importer of edible oils.
Crude sunflower oil from the Black Sea region is currently
being offered at about $1,420 a metric tonne on a cost, insurance
and freight basis for March delivery to India, compared with
around $1,165 for crude palm oil and $1,255 for crude soy oil.
Acharya and four dealers with global trade houses estimated
that India’s sunflower oil imports would drop to 2.65 million
tonne in the marketing year ending in October, down from 2.94
million tonne a year earlier and marking the lowest level since
2021/22.
The dealers declined to be named because they were not
authorised to speak to the media.
Russia and Ukraine account for more than two-thirds of
global sunflower oil exports, but adverse weather in both
countries tightened supplies and lifted prices in January to the
highest level in more than three years, said a New Delhi-based
dealer with a global trade house.
Argentina is offering sunflower oil at about $10 to $20 a
tonne cheaper than Black Sea supplies, following improved output,
providing some relief for Indian buyers, a dealer said.
Sunflower oil is mainly consumed in India’s southern States,
but consumers there are shifting towards palm oil, said a
Mumbai-based dealer.
The trend was reflected in India’s palm oil imports in
January, which jumped 51 per cent from December, while sunflower oil
imports fell 23 per cent, according to dealers’ estimates.
Published on February 5, 2026
