A decline in Indian palm and soyabean oil imports led to a 30% reduction in total edible oil shipments into the country in June, The Hindu BusinessLine wrote.
According to Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) data, India imported 1.11M tonnes of edible oil in June 2026 compared to 15.97M tonnes in the same month the previous year, a decline of 30%.
BV Mehta, executive director of SEA, said the decline was primarily driven by a drop in palm oil demand to 4.87M tonnes in June 2026 compared to 5.46M tonnes the previous month and 9.52M tonnes in June 2025.
Soyabean oil imports declined to 3.8M tonnes in June 2026 from 4.93M tonnes the previous month, Mehta added.
The drop was due to the loss of palm oil’s discount against soft oils (like soyabean), which dropped to under US$50/tonne, he explained.
According to Mehta, the drop in Indian imports was a ripple effect of biofuel mandates introduced by Indonesia, Malaysia and the USA, with these policies removing millions of tonnes of vegetable oils from the food economy and into the fuel economy, driving up global spot prices.
Despite the 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 103.88M tonnes of edible oil during November-June of the oil year 2025/26 compared to 97.29M tonnes in the same period the previous year, a growth of 7%.
Meanwhile, imports of refined oils from Nepal continued at significant levels.
Nepal exported approximately 3.38M tonnes of refined oils to India from November-April in 2025/26, including 2.97M tonnes of refined soyabean oil, 19,911 tonnes of refined sunflower oil, 18,295 tonnes of RBD palm olein and 3,081 tonnes of rapeseed oil.
Nepal’s refined oil exports to India were estimated at around 54,000 tonnes in May 2026 and 32,000 tonnes in June 2026, comprising mainly refined soyabean oil, along with smaller quantities of sunflower oil and RBD palm olein.
Crude palm oil (CPO) was the largest imported oil category at 49.42M tonnes during the first eight months of the oil year 2025/26, followed by crude and refined soyabean oil at 32.73M tonnes, and crude and refined sunflower oil at 20.94M tonnes.
Malaysia exported 19.81M tonnes of palm oil to India, including 19.58M tonnes of CPO and 8,000 tonnes of RBD palm olein.
India’s palm oil imports from Indonesia totalled 19.04M tonnes, including 18.79M tonnes of CPO and 24,983 tonnes of RBD palm olein.
Argentine exports of crude soyabean and sunflower oil to India during the period totalled 18.54M tonnes and 4.85M tonnes respectively.
During the period, India imported 48,650 tonnes of crude soyabean oil and 9.88M tonnes of sunflower oil from Russia.
Mehta said smaller quantities were imported from Thailand, Brazil, Ukraine, China, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries, reflecting a diversified sourcing pattern across different edible oils.
