India’s edible oil imports fall 16% in July to 15.48 lakh tonnes on lower shipments

India’s import of edible oil fell 16 per cent to 15.48 lakh tonnes in July, mainly due to a fall in shipments of palm oil, both refined and crude, according to industry body SEA. The country imported 15,48,041 tonnes in July this year as against 18,40,062 in the year-ago period.

The data does not include imports from Nepal, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) said in a statement on Thursday.

The industry body said the fall in imports of edible oils in July this year was because of a sharp decline in inward shipments of refined palm oil.

The increase in import duty difference between crude palm oil (CPO) and refined palmolein from 8.25 per cent to 19.25 per cent with effect from May 31, 2025, has made the import of refined oil uneconomical, SEA noted.

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Refined palmolein import fell to 5,000 tonnes during July 2025 compared to 1.63 lakh tonnes in the previous month and 1.36 lakh tonnes in July 2024. “The government’s decision to increase the duty difference is a bold and timely move. It started discouraging import of refined palmolein and shift demand back to crude oils, thereby revitalising the domestic refining sector,” SEA said. Import of crude palm oil fell to 8,50,695 tonnes in July 2025 from 9,36,876 tonnes in the same month last year, while the inward shipments of crude sunflower oil dipped to 2,00,010 tonnes from 3,66,541 tonnes. India imports palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia.

As per the data, the import of non-edible oils also fell to 31,000 tonnes from 55,014 tonnes.

India import of vegetable oil (edible and non-edible) fell 17 per cent to 15,79,041 tonnes last month from 18,95,076 tonnes in the same month of 2024.

During the first nine months of the current oil marketing year, which started in November 2024, the total vegetable oil imports reached 110.13 lakh tonnes, down by 9 per cent from 121.24 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period of the preceding year.

Edible oil imports fell to 107.56 lakh tonnes from 119.35 lakh tonnes, while the shipments of non-edible oil rose to 2.57 lakh tonnes from 1.88 lakh tonnes.

Apart from the above, SEA said that Nepal has exported mainly refined soybean oil and sunflower oil and a small quantity of RBD Palmolein and Rapeseed Oil to India under the SAFTA agreement at Nil duty.

During November 2024 to June 2025, the imports from Nepal reported at 5.21 lakh tonnes. PTI

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