Indian palm oil imports continue slump in August: SEAI

Indian palm oil imports fell to 734,000t in August from 824,000t in July as the impact of Covid-19 continued to dent restaurant and hotel demand, according to the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEAI).

November 2019-August 2020 palm oil imports were cut to 5.8mn t from 7.75mn t a year earlier, mostly because of refined purchases grinding to a halt since restrictions were implemented earlier this year to protect the domestic refining industry.

There was no incoming refined, bleached and deodorised (RBD) palm olein for the second straight month in August compared with 258,000t a year earlier. Imports for the marketing year so far were 404,000t from 2.3mn t between November 2018 and August 2019.

Tighter supplies pushed landed crude palm oil prices up to $723/t cif India in August from $660/t in July and $534/t in August 2019. RBD olein values were also up to $739/t from $675/t in July and $571/t last August.

By Amandeep Parmar