India to consume 26-27 million mt of edible oils by 2025-2026:SEA

India is likely to consume 26-27 million mt of edible oils by 2025-2026, according to estimates by the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) presented at the Indonesia Palm Oil Conference (IPOC) in Bali Friday.

The figure is higher than the estimates for the 2021/22 season, which were pegged at 22.7-23 million mt.

India‘s oilseed production is also estimated to hit 38-40 million mt in 2025/26 compared with 33 million mt in 2021-2022.

Domestic vegetable oil production is also expected to hit 13.5-14 million mt in 2025/26, higher than the 10 million mt for 2021/22.

“This gap of 11-12 million mt may be bridged through imports. The quantum of the type of oil is dependent on price parity and availability in the international market,” said Dr B.V Mehta, the Executive Director of the SEA at the conference.

“Imports of vegetable oils have reduced from its peak at 15.5 million mt in 2018/19 to 13.5 million mt last oil year due to Covid-19. In the past 20 years, import volume has increased 2.6 times while cost has gone up close to 27 times,” added Mehta.

In terms of the breakdown of types of edible oil consumed in India, palm oil makes up 33% while soybean oil makes up 23%, rapeseed makes up 15% and sunflower makes up 8%.

The balance is made up by cotton and groundnut oil.

For 2023, India is expected to import 13 million mt of palm oil and 1 million mt of soybean oil.

SEA earlier estimated in May that India is likely to import 12.9 million mt of edible oils from November 2021 to October 2022.