New Delhi

India's vegetable oil imports fell 4.71 per cent to 16.09 lakh tonnes in August from 16.94 lakh tonnes a year earlier, as palm oil shipments dropped amid rising global prices and a weaker rupee that raised the cost of imported edible oils, industry body Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said on Tuesday.

For the November-August period of the 2025-26 oil year, total vegetable oil imports rose 4 per cent to 138.8 lakh tonnes from 133.37 lakh tonnes a year earlier, SEA said in a statement.

India, the world's biggest vegetable oil importer, bought 15.72 lakh tonnes of edible oils and 37,150 tonnes of non-edible oils in August, down from 16.88 lakh tonnes and 55,821 tonnes, respectively, a year earlier.

Refined edible oil imports rose to 1.01 lakh tonnes in August from 64,403 tonnes a year earlier, while crude oil imports fell to 14.70 lakh tonnes from 16.24 lakh tonnes.

Among crude oils, palm oil imports dropped to 7.60 lakh tonnes from 9.79 lakh tonnes and sunflower oil imports fell to 1.55 lakh tonnes from 2.57 lakh tonnes, while soyabean oil imports rose to 5.54 lakh tonnes from 3.87 lakh tonnes.

PRICES AND RUPEE

Average CIF (Cost, Insurance, and Freight) prices at Indian ports in August were USD 1,215 a tonne for RBD Palmolein, USD 1,259 for crude palm oil, USD 1,289 for crude soyabean oil and USD 1,496 for crude sunflower oil, SEA said.

Compared with August 2025, crude palm oil prices rose 9 per cent, RBD Palmolein 10 per cent, soyabean oil 8 per cent and sunflower oil 18 per cent.

The rupee has depreciated more than 9 per cent over the past year, SEA said, adding that this remained a concern for importers and refiners as it raises the landed cost of imported edible oils.

NEPAL IMPORTS

Imports of refined oils from Nepal remained significant. Nepal exported 5.96 lakh tonnes of refined oils to India during November 2025-August 2026, comprising 5.31 lakh tonne of refined soyabean oil, 33,881 tonnes of refined sunflower oil, 28,728 tonnes of RBD Palmolein and 4,428 tonnes of rapeseed oil.

SEA noted that Nepal mainly imports crude soyabean oil and re-exports it to India as refined soyabean oil, benefiting from a nil import duty under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement.

STOCKS

Total edible oil stocks stood at 20.43 lakh tonnes as of September 1, up 31,000 tonnes from 20.12 lakh tonnes a month earlier.