FNB News - Import of veg oils for May ’18 reported at 12,86,240 tonne, down by 7%

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ANALYSIS

Import of veg oils for May ’18 reported at 12,86,240 tonne, down by 7%

Friday, 15 June, 2018, 08 : 00 AM [IST]

Our Bureau, New Delhi

The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India has compiled the import data of vegetable oils (edible and non-edible) for the month of May 2018. The import of vegetable oils during May 2018 was reported at 12,86,240 tonne compared to 13,84,439 tonne in May 2017, i e down by seven per cent. It consisted of 12,46,462 tonne of edible oils and 39,778 tonne of non-edible oils. The overall import of vegetable oils between November 2017 and May 2018 was reported at 86,04,535 tonne compared to 85,22,704 tonne, i e up by one per cent.

Import of Vegetable Oil (Edible & Non-edible) Nov.’17-May ’18

(Qty. in MT)

Month	2017-18			2016-17			Percentage change
Month	Edible	Non-edible	Total	Edible	Non-edible	Total	Percentage change
November 2017	12,25,315	2,349	12,48,810	11,55,863	19,601	11,75,464	(+) 6%
December 2017	10,58,289	30,494	10,88,783	11,74,296	35,389	12,09,685	(-) 10%
January 2018	12,46,847	44,294	12,91,141	10,12,085	16,774	10,28,859	(+) 25%
February 2018	11,24,999	32,045	11,57,044	12,34,255	36,188	12,70,443	(-) 9%
March 2018	11,22,685	23,366	11,46,051	10,97,876	16,449	11,14,325	(+) 3%
April 2018	13,68,616	17,850	13,86,466	13,24,014	15,475	13,39,489	(+) 3.5%
May 2018	12,46,462	39,778	12,86,240	13,23,792	60,647	13,84,439	(-) 7%
Total	83,93,213	2,11,322	86,04,535	83,22,181	2,00,523	85,22,704	(+) 1%

The current duty structure, coupled with rupee depreciation and credit crunch in the market, has slowed down the import, which is evident from the above data.

Secondly, in May 2018, for the first time, it was seen that the import of soft oils (soya, sunflower and rape) is higher than palm oil, with soft oils’ share at 60 per cent and that of palm oil was 40 per cent. Also soft oil import and sunflower oil import were the highest in any single month since India started importing edible oils in 1994.

Record stock at port and in pipeline
The stock of edible oils as on June 1, 2018 at various ports was estimated at 10,02,000 tonne [CPO 3,20,000 tonne, RBD Palmolein 1,70,000 tonne, Degummed Soybean Oil 2,30,000 tonne, Crude Sunflower Oil 2,70,000 tonne and 12,000 tonne of Rapeseed (Canola) Oil] and about 16,60,000 tonne in pipelines. The total stock at ports and in pipelines is reported at 26,62,000 tonne, increased by 3,24,000 tonne from 23,38,000 tonne in May 2018. India’s total demand for edible oils during 2017-18 is estimated at 23 lakh tonne. The monthly requirement is about 19 lakh tonne and operate at 30 days’ stock, against which currently holding stock over 26.62 lakh tonne equal to 42 days’ requirements. This is the highest-ever stock putting pressure on domestic prices of edible oils.

Stock position at ports and pipelines
(Quantity in ’000 MT)

	June 1,2018	May 1, 2018	April 1, 2018	March 1, 2018	February 1, 2018	January 1, 2018	December 1, 2017	November 1, 2017	October 1, 2017	September 1, 2017	August1, 2017	July 1, 2017	June 1, 2017
Port stock	1,002	1,068	770	757	855	876	847	884	979	907	883	738	770
Pipe lines	1,660	1,270	1,342	1,440	1,340	1,300	1,420	1,460	1,610	1,590	1,540	1,390	1,335
Total stock	2,662	2,338	2,112	2,197	2,195	2,176	2,267	2,344	2,589	2,497	2,473	2,278	2,160

Import of palm products
Historically, palm oil constitute the major share of the imports by India. The landed cost of RBD Palmolein and CPO are more or less the same, encouraging the larger import of RBD Palmolein (finished product) over CPO (raw material), serious hurting domestic refiners for capacity utilisation.

Import of palm oil - November 2017 to May 2018 (Quantity in MT)

Year (November to October)	RBD Palmolein	CPO	CPKO	Total
November 2017	1,47,362 (21 per cent)	5,59,584 (78 per cent)	10,022 (one per cent)	7,16,968
December 2017	1,06,924 (15 per cent)	6,08,405 (84 per cent)	7,528 (one per cent)	7,22,857
January 2018	1,50,664 (18 per cent)	6,72,762 (81 per cent)	11,018 (one per cent)	8,34,444
February 2018	2,02,409 (27 per cent)	5,46,009 (72 per cent)	11,827 (one per cent)	7,60,245
March 2018	1,63,222 (21 per cent)	5,91,985 (78 per cent)	5,493 (one per cent)	7,60,700
April 2018	2,09,772 (27 per cent)	5,56,822 (71 per cent)	12,290 (two per cent)	7,78,884
May 2018	1,57,832 (32 per cent)	3,31,592 (67 per cent)	7,054 (one per cent)	4,96,478
November 2017 and May 2018 November 2016 and May 2017	11,38,185 (23 per cent) 1,662,360 (32 per cent)	38,67,159 (76 per cent) 3,398,879 (67 per cent)	65,232 (one per cent) 44,242 (one per cent)	50,70,576 51,05,481
2016-17	28,70,928 (31 per cent)	63,35,321 (68 per cent)	87,468 (one per cent)	92,93,717
2015-16	26,23,002 (31 per cent)	57,49,231 (68 per cent)	70,607 (one per cent)	84,42,840
2014-15	16,59,070 (17 per cent)	77,24,077(81 per cent)	1,53,757 (two per cent)	95,36,904
2013-14	15,76,354 (20 per cent)	62,52,788 (78 per cent)	1,28,818 (two per cent)	79,57,960

Import of palm and soft oil ratio
Between November 2017 and May 2018, the overall Palm Oil import has decreased to 50,70,576 tonne from 51,05,481 tonne, while soft oils import increased to 33,22,637 tonne from 32,16,700 tonne during the same period of last year. Also a parcel of 3,000 tonne of cottonseed oil from the United States arrived during April 2018.

Import of palm oil and soft oil (Ratio) November 2017 to May 2018
(Quantity in MT)

Year (November and October)	Palm Oil		Soft Oil					%	Total
Year (November and October)	(RBD Palmolein + CPO + Crude Olein + CPKO)		Soybean	Sunflower	Rape	Others	Total
November 2017	7,16,968	59%	2,73,928	1,93,810	40,609	-	5,08,347	41%	12,25,315
December 2017	7,22,857	68%	79,250	2,36,655	19,527	-	3,35,432	32%	10,58,289
January 2018	8,34,444	67%	2,24,870	1,70,831	16,702	-	4,12,403	33%	12,46,847
February 2018	7,60,245	68%	1,33,787	2,12,531	18,436	-	3,64,754	32%	11,24,999
March 2018	7,60,700	68%	1,15,102	2,10,269	36,614	-	3,61,985	32%	11,22,685
April 2018	7,78,884	57%	2,64,750	2,94,450	27,520	3,012*	5,89,732	43%	13,68,616
May 2018	4,96,478	40%	3,96,969	3,30,985	22,030	-	7,49,984	60%	12,46,462
November 2017 to May 2018 November 2016 and May 2017	50,70,576 51,05,481	60% 61%	14,88,656 16,89,891	16,49,531 13,39,511	1,81,438 1,81,208	3,012 6,090	33,22,637 32,16 ,700	40% 39%	83,93,213 83,22,181
2016-17	92,93,717	62%	33,16,207	21,68,754	2,92,652	6,090	57,83,703	38%	1,50,77,420
2015-16	84,42,840	58%	42,34,809	15,16,220	3,77,469	-	61,28,498	42%	1,45,71,338
2014-15	95,36,904	66%	29,85,944	15,42,599	3,55,824	-	48,84,367	34%	1,44,21,271
2013-14	79,57,960	68%	19,51,233	15,09,250	1,99,891	-	36,60,374	32%	1,16,18,334

Average prices and rupee depreciation
(Price in $/CIF Indian port/tonne)

Oils	May 2018	April 2018	March 2018	February 2018	January 2018	December 2017	November 2017	October 2017	September 2017	August 2017	July 2017
RBD Palmolein	661	673	678	677	669	661	702	716	729	684	683
Crude Palm Oil	652	664	671	675	669	662	703	717	730	670	681
Crude Soybean Oil	771	808	804	809	817	811	839	829	836	813	802
Crude Sunflower Oil	806	822	807	803	800	800	811	821	838	824	804
FE: $1 = (Average)	67.51	65.67	65.05	64.43	63.65	64.24	64.84	65.04	64.48	63.97	64.42

In the last one year, in international market, the prices of edible oils have gone down by three to 10 per cent due to larger supply, and at the same time, rupee depreciation by nearly five per cent in one year, nullified the advantage of price reduction.

Import of non-edible oils
Import of non-edible oils between November 2017 and May 2018 is reported at 2,11,322 tonne compared to 2,00,523 tonne during the same period last year, i e up by five per cent.

This is mainly due to higher import of P F A D and C P S at nil duty under actual user condition, seriously affecting domestic refiners and main cause of disparity in domestic refining of palm oil.