An increase in the import duty of crude palm oil (CPO) and refined palmolein has been a major reason for a drop in India’s imports of edible oil in July, said industry body, Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) on Thursday.
The latest data shows the country imported 15,48,041 tonnes of edible oil in July this year, as against 18,40,062 in the year-ago period. The 16-per cent fall was because of a sharp decline in shipments of refined and crude palm oil, said SEA.
While the data does not include imports from Nepal, India mainly imports palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia, the industry body added.
Nepal mainly exported refined soybean oil and sunflower oil and a small quantity of RBD Palmolein and Rapeseed Oil to India under the SAFTA agreement at Nil duty.
Also Read: India’s tariff cuts on Indonesian palm oil import to boost trade
During November 2024 to June 2025, the imports from Nepal reported at 5.21 lakh tonnes.
The import duty difference between crude palm oil and refined palmolein with effect from May 31, 2025, is 19.25 per cent from the previous 8.25 per cent, SEA noted.
"The government's decision to increase the duty difference is a bold and timely move. It started discouraging import of refined palmolein and shift demand back to crude oils, thereby revitalising the domestic refining sector," SEA said.
As per the data, refined palmolein import fell to 5,000 tonnes during July 2025 compared to 1.63 lakh tonnes in the previous month and 1.36 lakh tonnes in July 2024.
Import of crude palm oil, meanwhile, fell to 8,50,695 tonnes in July 2025 from 9,36,876 tonnes in the same month last year, while the inward shipments of crude sunflower oil dipped to 2,00,010 tonnes from 3,66,541 tonnes.
The import of non-edible oils also fell to 31,000 tonnes from 55,014 tonnes.
India’s import of vegetable oil (edible and non-edible) fell 17 per cent to 15,79,041 tonnes last month, from 18,95,076 tonnes in the same month of 2024.
Since November, 2024, the total vegetable oil imports were down 9 per cent, reaching 110.13 lakh tonnes from 121.24 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period of the preceding year.
Also Read: Patanjali Group to cultivate palm oil seeds in NE
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