India's palm oil imports plunge as buyers shift to soyoil

MUMBAI, Sept 12 (Reuters): India's palm oil imports in August fell more than a quarter from a month ago, primarily driven by sufficient domestic stocks and negative margins that discouraged refiners from purchasing more of the tropical oil, a leading trade body said on Thursday.
Lower purchases by the world's biggest importer of vegetable oils could lead to higher stocks of palm oil in key producers Indonesia and Malaysia, weighing on benchmark futures.
India's palm oil imports fell 26 per cent in August from July to 797,482 metric tons, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.
Imports of soyoil rose 16 per cent to 454,639 tons, while sunflower oil imports fell 22.5 per cent to 284,108 tons, it said.
The drop in imports of palm and sunflower oils brought down the country's total edible oil imports by 17 per cent to 1.53 million tons.