Edible oils import rises

Mumbai, Aug 14 (UNI) The country's import of edible oil jumped to 548,908 tons during July this year compared to 463,735 tons for the same period last year.

Import of non-edible oil maintained the same level and was 32,688 tons, according to the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEAI).

SEAI executive director B V Mehta said in a press release here today, ''The import of vegetable oils (edible and non-edible), which had shown negative growth during February-April due to better domestic availability, shown a quantum jump during May-July and reported at 1,781,528 tons as compared to 1,411,774 tons in the same quarter of last year.

Looking to the trend in the last quarter and less domestic supply during lean period of crushing, import during August-October is likely to be same or slightly more. The overall import of vegetable oil for the year 2006-07 is projected at 55 to 56 lakh tons -- 48 lakh tons of edible oil and around 7.5 lakh tons of non-edible oils.

Import of refined oil has reduced from 100,773 tons to 86,703 tons, while crude oil further increased to 3,211,066 tons from 2,951,832 tons during November 2006 to July 2007 as compared to corresponding period of last year.

Palm oil products import share increased to 2,228,378 tons from 1,643,545 tons, while soft oil import reduced to 1,069,391 tons from 1,408,010 tons during November 2006 to July 2007 compared to the same period of last year. Within soft oil, crude soybean oil import reduced to 893,440 tons from 1,302,427 tons while sunflower oil import increased to 164,955 tons from 86,844 tons due to gradual reduction in import duty.

Import of non-edible oil during July 2007 was reported at 32,688 tons compared to 32,371 tons in July 2006. The total import of non-edible oil during November 2006 to July 2007 was reported at 482,873 tons compared to 456,709 tons last year.

UNI