Brazilian purchases boost India's Jan ethanol imports

India's ethanol imports for January rose from a year and month earlier, spurred by competitively priced shipments from fellow large sugar and ethanol producer Brazil.

January denatured ethanol imports increased to around 25,500m³ (20,120t), up by some 14pc from the same month last year and almost quadrupling from December, GTT data show. Almost all of the imports, or 99pc, came from Brazil.

Denatured ethanol is used for gasoline blending.

Total undenatured ethanol imports increased to 25,600m³ in January, also up by around 14pc from a year earlier and nearly quadrupling from December. Brazil also sent 99pc of all India's undenatured ethanol imports for the month.

An unfavourable arbitrage to the US likely prompted Brazilian exporters to send more shipments to India. Brazilian anhydrous ethanol prices on a fob Santos basis fell to $788/t on 19 December, their lowest level for 2022, possibly opening the arbitrage to India.

CPO, RBD palm olein imports drop on month But India cut January crude palm oil (CPO) and refined, bleached, deodorised (RBD) palm olein imports from December 2022, although they were higher from a year earlier.

The month-on-month drop in CPO and RBD palm olein purchases occurred on the back of a rise in rival vegetable oil imports , as vegetable oils compete with each other for global market share.

India mostly imports CPO for domestic refining but its January imports dropped by about 20pc to around 675,000t from roughly 850,000t a month earlier. But the January CPO imports increased by about 43pc from a year earlier when India bought 473,000t.

Indonesia remained the top CPO seller to India, shipping about 376,000t despite Jakarta's fluctuating export taxes and its domestic market obligation on palm oil and its derivatives. Malaysia sold around 179,000t with Singapore rounding off the top three, shipping about 49,000t.

India also cut RBD palm olein imports by 39pc on the month to around 157,000t. But imports were up by about 17pc from the same month in 2022 when India took about 134,000t from Indonesia.

Only three countries sold RBD olein to India. Indonesia was India's largest RBD palm olein supplier with around 148,000t. Malaysia followed behind with 5,000t, while Nepal came in last with 3,400t.

The Solvent Extractor's Association of India in November 2022 urged the government to increase import duties on RBD palm olein relative to CPO to support the domestic refining industry.

By Ryan Ang

India crude palm oil/refined, bleached, deodorised olein imports (t) Jan &#39;23 Dec&#39;22 % &#177; m-o-m Jan&#39;22 % &#177;y-o-y Imports CPO 675,006 846,778 -20.3% 472,513 42.9% RBD Olein 156,579 256,791 -39.0% 134,151 16.7% Source: GTT India ethanol, denatured/undenatured imports/exports (m&#179;) Jan &#39;23 Dec&#39;22 % &#177; m-o-m Jan&#39;22 % &#177;y-o-y Imports Denatured 25,472 6,825 273% 22,427 13.6% Undenatured 25,557 6,941 268% 22,466 13.8% Exports Denatured 0 0 0% 28 -100% Undenatured 10,518 12,616 -16.6% 7,356 43.0% Source: GTT

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