India's increase in sunflower oil imports by 74% in May led to an increase in prices in Ukraine

In May, compared to April, India increased the import of edible oils by 15% to 1.5 million tons, in particular, palm oil - by 12.4% to a 4-month maximum of 769,000 tons thanks to a decrease in its prices, and sunflower oil - by 74% to 408 thousand tons, as several vessels were already unloaded in May as a result of port congestion in April. At the same time, the import of soybean oil decreased by 16.5% to 322,000 tons.

According to dealers, the price of imported crude palm oil (CPO) is $948/t CIF (including cost, insurance and freight), while soybean oil is offered at $1,028/t and sunflower oil at $1,035/t CIF.

The increase in the import of palm oil was facilitated by the increase in the margin for the purchase of refined palm oil, due to which its import in May increased compared to April from 124.2 to 214 thousand tons. Experts expect that in June India will import about 750 thousand tons of palm oil.

Data from the Indian Manufacturers Association (SEA) on May imports will be released in mid-June. We will remind that India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and soybean and sunflower oil - from Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine and the Russian Federation.

Due to increased demand from India and Spain, Ukraine increased sunflower oil exports in May by 13.7% to 714.3 thousand tons, which was the highest figure since November 2020.

August palm oil futures on Bursa Malaysia fell 3.83% to 3,920 ringgit/t or $834/t yesterday, following oil prices. This will increase the demand for palm oil and reduce the interest of buyers in sunflower oil.

According to Trading Economics, the average price of sunflower oil delivered to customers rose 6.1% last week to $931/t (+7.5% on the month), but fell 2.3% to $910/t from Monday under the pressure of falling oil prices by 3.4% and palm oil by 2.6%.