India increased vegetable oil imports by 24% in June, but cut sunflower oil purchases by 35%

According to the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA), in June compared to May, India increased its import of vegetable oils by 24% to 1.3 million tons, in particular palm oil by 56% to 683.13 thousand tons and soybean oil by 37 % to 437.66 thousand tons, while the import of sunflower oil decreased by 35% to 190.79 thousand tons.

As a result of the almost complete shutdown of the grain corridor in June, supplies of sunflower oil to heavy cargo ships that could go to India decreased. In July-August, the export of sunflower oil from Ukraine will further decrease due to the termination of the grain agreement, while the load on the Danube ports and the western border crossings will increase.

According to operational data, in June compared to May, Ukraine increased sunflower oil exports by 5% to 476,000 tons, in particular to EU countries – by 37% to 256,000 tons, which is the highest figure since December 2022. In total, for 10 months of 2022 /23 MR sunflower oil exports amounted to 4.8 million tons, of which 41% or 1.95 million tons went to the EU (32% more than in the same period of 2021/22 MR).

According to the European Commission, Ukraine's share of sunflower oil supplies to the EU in September-June 2022/23 FY increased to 88% compared to 82% in 2021/22 FY.

September palm oil futures on Bursa Malaysia yesterday rose 1.3% to 3,930 ringgit/t or $862/t (+0.3% for the week) on data from surveyors Amspec Agri and Intertek Testing Services that exports increased by 16.7-19.3% for the period July 1-15.

Indonesia, where the legislation obliges palm oil exporters to sell part of their products on the domestic market, after increasing the content of biodiesel in the fuel to 35%, may reduce the volume of palm oil offers in the near future.

August soybean oil futures on the Chicago Stock Exchange yesterday fell by 0.4% to $1,427/t (-0.7% for the week, +10.6% for the month).

Prices for sunflower oil with delivery to buyers for the week decreased to $895/t, but demand for deliveries of oil from the new harvest increased slightly.