India's Palm Oil Imports 7.8 Per Cent Lower In February

By Shakir Husain NEW DELHI, March 15 (Bernama) -- India's palm oil purchases in February fell 7.8 per cent from the previous month despite the lower import taxes on the commodity this year. According to the Solvent Extractors' Association of India’s (SEA) data, total palm oil imports stood at 751,703 tonnes during the month, compared with 815,236 tonnes in January. Overall edible oil imports in February was recorded at 1.18 million tonnes, with palm oil having a major share at 64 per cent and soybean and sunflower oils being two other major components. Indian importers bought 497,655 tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO) and 241,101 tonnes of refined, bleached and deodorised (RBD) palm olein last month. SEA said January’s imports of RBD palm olein had increased by 85 per cent over December at the cost of reduced import of CPO, following the reduction of import duty in January which narrowed the price difference between crude and refined palm oil. -- BERNAMA