India's Palm Oil Imports Jump Over 15 Pct In May

NEW DELHI, June 14 (Bernama) -- India's palm oil imports jumped 15.6 per cent in May compared with the previous month, according to the latest industry data. The country purchased 818,149 tonnes of palm oil, including 439,590 tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO), last month while the figure for April was 707,450 tonnes, according to the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA). The share of palm oil in India's total vegetable oil imports of 1.22 million tonnes in May was 69 per cent compared with 59 per cent in April. The world's largest importer of vegetable oil has seen its refined palm oil imports rise significantly since January following a reduction in duty. The duty on Malaysian RBD palm olein was reduced from 54 per cent to 45 per cent as per the Malaysia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). India's RBD palm olein imports surged from 130,000 tonnes in December to 371,060 tonnes last month and the country is "flooded" with Malaysian refined palm oil, said the industry group that represents refiners. It has asked the government to scrap the CECA agreement and impose higher duties on Malaysian refined palm oil to help domestic companies. -- BERNAMA