India's edible oil demand to rise despite hefty import duty hike

Patanjali Foods

18/09/2024 07:52

By Rajendra Jadhav
       MUMBAI, Sept 18 (Reuters) - India's edible oil
consumption is set to grow at a pace of 2%-3% as cooking oils
remain affordable despite an import duty hike, a leading
importer told Reuters on Wednesday.
    New Delhi on Friday raised the basic import tax on crude and
refined edible oils by 20 percentage points to help protect
farmers reeling from lower oilseed prices.
    "As we enter the peak festival season, demand will remain
strong. Despite the duty hike, edible oil prices are
affordable," said Sanjeev Asthana, chief executive officer at
Patanjali Foods Ltd  PAFO.NS .
    "Edible oils' demand could grow by 2%-3% in the 2024-2025
marketing year starting from Nov. 1 because of rising population
and prosperity," he said.
    India is the world's largest importer and meets 70% of its
vegetable oil demand through foreign sourcing. It buys palm oil
from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while soyoil and sunoil
come from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.
    The country's palm oil imports in 2024-25 could be between
9-10 million metric tons compared to around 9 million tons this
year as tropical oil is likely to regain the market share it
lost to rival sunflower oil due to a higher premium, he said.
    "We witnessed an unusual surge in sunflower oil imports this
year due to attractive prices. Next year, sunflower oil imports
may return to the normal range of 3 million tons," he said.
    India's sunoil imports in the current year are expected to
surge to record 3.6 million tons from year-ago 3 million tons.
    Russia and Ukraine's abundant sunoil supplies brought prices
down and made it competitive against rival oils.
    Soyoil imports would remain largely steady next year, around
this year's level of 3 million tons, Asthana said.
    India's soybean crop in 2024 could rise to 11 million tons
from approximately 10 million tons last year, if the weather
remains favourable over the next few weeks, he said.

 (Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Sumana Nandy)
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Messaging: rajendra.jadhav.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))