Traders told Reuters that India’s palm oil imports in May are set to rise above 600,000 tonnes despite a ban imposed by Indonesia on exports, as most of the contracted quantity will be loaded before Jakarta’s embargo takes effect.
The world’s largest palm oil exporter plans to halt shipments of refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) palm olein from Thursday, but will allow exports of crude palm oil (CPO) or other derivative products.
Traders said the ban could hit India’s imports in June as refiners struggle to secure supplies from Malaysia.
“The vessel loading for May shipments at Indonesian ports is almost complete. The quantity will be unloaded in India next month,” said Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of Mumbai-based vegetable oil brokerage and consultancy firm Sunwin Group.
India is the world’s largest importer of palm oil and depends on Indonesia to meet almost half of its palm oil requirement of about 700,000 tonnes per month.
In March, India imported 207,362 tonnes of palm oil from Indonesia, including 145,696 tonnes of RBD palm olein.
As Indonesia has not imposed restrictions on exports of CPOs, Indian refiners will also buy smaller quantities in the coming months, said a Mumbai-based dealer of a global trading firm.
“Indonesian CPO supply for export is very limited. Buyers will move to Malaysia, but it has limited surplus,” the dealer said.
India imported 539,793 tonnes of palm oil in March, while shipments are expected to increase to 600,000 tonnes in April.
Before Indonesia announced the sanctions, industry officials were expecting India’s palm oil imports to exceed 650,000 tonnes in May, but they are now expecting shipments of a little over 600,000 tonnes.
Atul Chaturvedi, president of the trade body of Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA), said, “Indonesia and Malaysia are the main suppliers of palm oil, but in the coming months the industry will try to source more palm oil from Thailand and Papua New Guinea. will do.”
But the supply from these small producers is insufficient and there could be a shortfall in June, Chaturvedi said.
India also imports soya oil from Argentina, and sunoil from Ukraine and Russia, but their supplies are cut.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed.