FNB News - Increase in import of veg oils in March 2019 by 26% to 14,46,557 tonne

You can get e-magazine links on WhatsApp. Click here

OILS AND FATS

Increase in import of veg oils in March 2019 by 26% to 14,46,557 tonne

Tuesday, 23 April, 2019, 14 : 00 PM [IST]

Our Bureau, Mumbai

The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India has compiled the import data of vegetable oils (edible and non-edible) for the month of March 2019. Import of vegetable oils during March 2019 sharply increased by 26 per cent to 1,446,557 tonne compared to 1,146,051 tonne in March 2018, consisting of 13,93,255 tonne of edible oils and 53,302 tonne of non-edible oils. The overall import of vegetable oils between November 2018 and March 2019 is reported at 6,309,406 tonne compared to 5,931,829 tonne, i.e., up by six per cent.

Import of vegetable oil (edible and non-edible) between November 2018 and March 2019
(Quantity in metric tonne [MT])

Month	2018-19			2017-18			% Change
Month	Edible	Non-edible	Total	Edible	Non-edible	Total	% Change
November 2018	10,73,353	60,540	11,33,893	12,25,315	23,495	12,48,810	(-) 9%
December 2018	11,45,794	65,370	12,11,164	10,58,289	30,494	10,88,783	(+) 11%
January 2019	12,10,603	64,656	12,75,259	12,46,847	44,294	12,91,141	(-) 1.2%
February 2019	11,82,062	60,471	12,42,533	11,24,999	32,045	11,57,044	(+) 7.4%
March 2019	13,93,255	53,302	14,46,557	11,22,685	23,366	11,46,051	(+) 26.%
Total	60,05,067	3,04,339	63,09,406	57,78,135	1,53,694	59,31,829	(+) 6%

Sharp increase in import of RBD Palmolein
The Ministry of Finance, with effect from January 1, 2019, reduced the import duty on palm oil and also reduced the duty difference between crude and palm oil from 10 per cent to five per cent on palmolein to be imported from Malaysia.

As anticipated, the worst fears have come true, and India is flooded with RBD Palmolein from Malaysia. Reduction in the duty difference between CPO and Palmolein sourced from Malaysia has resulted in RBD Palmolein imports going up from 1,30,000 tonne in December 2018 to over 3,00,000 tonne in March 2019.

This development has also the potential of sounding the death knell of the palm refining industry in India. This also has seriously impacted the prices of mustard seed and being currently quoted Rs 700-800 per quintal below the MSP (minimum support price) of Rs 4,200 per quintal.

Needless to mention, mustard harvest is nearly completed and arrivals in mandies are at peak level. This will have a huge negative impact on incomes of mustard farmers. This anomaly needs to be corrected. If this aberration is not rectified, the farmer will be greatly affected and discouraged, while domestic palm refineries would be destroyed and Make in India would remain a pipe dream. There is urgent need to create duty difference of 10 per cent between CPO and RBD Palmolein, as was prevailing before January 1, 2019 to survive in this situation.

Stock position at port and in pipeline
The stock of edible oils as on April 1, 2019 at various ports is estimated at 9,70,000 tonne (CPO 4,10,000 tonne, RBD Palmolein 250,000 tonne, Degummed Soybean Oil 1,40,000 tonne and Crude Sunflower Oil 170,000 tonne to and about 14,00,000 tonne in pipelines).

Total stock at ports and in pipelines is reported at 23,70,000 tonne, increased by 1,75,000 tonne from 21,95,000 tonne as on March 1, 2019.

India’s monthly requirement is about 19 lakh tonne and operate at 30 days’ stock, against which currently holding stock over 23.70 lakh tonne equal to 37 days’ requirements.

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

1-Apr-19	1-Mar-19	1-Feb-19	1-Jan-19	1-Dec-18	1-Nov-18	1-Oct-18	1-Sep-18	1-Aug-18	1-Jul-18	1-Jun-18	1-May-18	1-Apr-18
970	915	805	805	861	895	923	994	928	948	1,002	1,068	770
1,400	1,280	1,305	1,220	1,330	1,430	1,630	1,580	1,547	1,570	1,660	1,270	1,342
2,370	2,195	2,110	2,025	2,191	2,325	2,553	2,574	2,475	2,518	2,662	2,338	2,112

Import of refined and crude oil ratio
Between November 2018 and March 2019, the import of refined oil (RBD Palmolein) increased to 9,60,573 tonne from 7,70,581 tonne in same period of last year. However, the import of crude oil also marginally increased and reported at 50,44,494 tonne from 50,07,554 tonne during the same period of last year. During November and Deember 2018, the share of RBD Palmolein was just 10 to 12 per cent, whereas now it has increased to 22 per cent.

Import of refined and crude edible oils (ratio) (Quantity in MT)

Year (November-October)	Refined oils	%	Crude oils	%	Total
Nov-18	1,08,911	12%	9,64,442	88%	10,73,353
Dec-18	1,30,459	10%	10,15,335	90%	11,45,794
Jan-19	1,67,429	14%	10,43,174	86%	12,10,603
Feb-19	2,41,101	20%	9,40,961	80%	11,82,062
Mar-19	3,12,673	22%	10,80,582	78%	13,93,255
November 2018-March 2019	9,60,573	16%	50,44,494	84%	60,05,067

November 2017– March 2018
		13%		87%
	7,70,581		50,07,554		57,78,135
2017-18	21,35,780	15%	1,23,80,752	85%	1,45,16,532
2016-17	28,70,928	19%	1,22,06,492	81%	1,50,77,420
2015-16	26,23,002	18%	1,19,48,336	82%	1,45,71,338
2014-15	16,59,070	12%	1,27,62,201	88%	1,44,21,271

Import of palm and soft oil ratio: Favouring palm oil
Between November 2018 and March 2019, palm oil import has marginally increased to 38,72,909 tonne from 37,95,214 tonne during the same period of last year. However, soft oils import jumped in March 2018, and total import increased to 21,32,158 tonne from 19,82,921 tonne during the same period of last year.

Import of palm oil and soft oil (ratio) (Quantity in MT)

Year (November-October)	Palm Oil		Soft Oil					%	Total
	(RBD Palmolein + CPO		Soybean	Sunflower	Rape	Others	Total

	+ Crude Olein + CPKO)
Nov-18	6,91,827	64%	2,03,734	1,65,550	12,242	-	3,81,526	36%	10,73,353
Dec-18	8,11,700	71%	85,404	2,35,824	12,866	-	3,34,094	29%	11,45,794
Jan-19	8,15,236	67%	1,85,906	2,00,027	9,434	-	3,95,367	33%	12,10,603
Feb-19	7,51,703	64%	2,20,376	2,00,358	9,625	-	4,30,359	36%	11,82,062
Mar-19	8,02,443	58%	2,92,925	2,97,887	-	-	5,90,812	42%	13,93,255
November2018-March 2019	38,72,909	64%	9,88,345	10,99,646	44,167	-	21,32,158	36%	60,05,067

November 2017-March 2018



	37,95,214		8,26,937	10,24,096	1,31,888		19,82,921	34%	57,78,135
		66%				-
2017-18	87,01,062	60%	30,47,040	25,24,793	2,40,625	3,012	58,15,470	40%	1,45,16,532
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

Average prices and rupee depreciation (Price in $/CIF Indian Port/Tonne)

Oils	Mar-19	Feb-19	Jan-19	Dec-18	Nov-18	Oct-18	Sep-18	Aug-18	Jul-18	Jun-18	May-18	Apr-18	Mar-18
RBD Palmolein	559	585	570	518	510	568	575	578	592	631	661	673	678
Crude Palm Oil	520	550	538	482	472	529	551	565	583	623	652	664	671
Crude Soybean Oil	711	760	709	679	682	706	689	691	709	727	771	808	804

In the last one year, in the international market, prices of various edible oils have gone down in the range of 11 per cent to 22 per cent due to excess supply in the world market, but rupee is depreciated by nearly seven per cent in the last one year.

Import of non-edible oils
The import of non-edible oils during March 2019 was reported at 53,302 tonne compared to 23,366 tonne in March 2018. The overall import of non-edible oils between November 2018 and March 2019 is reported at 3,04,339 tonne (almost doubled) compared to 1,53,694 tonne during the same period last year, i.e., up by 98 per cent, thanks to nil duty on P F A D and RBD Palm Stearin. P F A D, C P S and RBD Palm Stearin are the major import of non-edible oils.