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India’s edible oil production poised at 9.6 MT in 2025-26
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Wednesday, 11 February, 2026, 12 : 00 PM [IST]
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Our Bureau, New Delhi
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India’s domestic edible oil output is forecast to reach 9.6 million tonnes in the 2025-26 marketing year (October-September), but this will cover only about 40% of the country’s total demand, industry group Indian Vegetable Oil Producers’ Association (IVPA) has projected. As a result, India is expected to import around 16.7 million tonnes of cooking oils to bridge the gap between demand and domestic supply.
Addressing a conference in Kuala Lumpur on global edible oils, IVPA President Sudhakar Desai also CEO of Emami Agrotech Ltd highlighted how structural shifts in international trade and policy are reshaping supply dynamics. Desai noted that geopolitical reconfigurations, biofuel mandates, and supply rigidity have introduced “structural volatility” in global edible oil markets, making price swings more pronounced and unpredictable.
India’s import dependence persists because local production falls significantly short of domestic needs. According to the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), the country imported about 16 million tonnes of edible oils in the 2024-25 oil year, costing nearly ?1.61 lakh crore.
For the upcoming 2025-26 year, Desai projected imports would include 8–8.5 million tonnes of palm oil, 5–5.5 million tonnes of soybean oil, 2.8–3 million tonnes of sunflower oil, and a small volume of other oils such as those imported duty-free through Nepal.
He also pointed out that inter-oil price differentials especially between palm and soybean oil significantly influence import preferences, with shifts of $50–60 per tonne capable of triggering large reallocations in import volumes.
Amid these challenges, refining margins remain under pressure, and evolving free trade agreements with major partners are increasingly shaping cost structures and market flows in the sector.
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