MUMBAI: India, the biggest vegetable oil buyer after China, will
import record volumes this year even as the highest ever soyAbean and
canola stockpiles fuel speculation that overseas purchases may slow,
Godrej International Ltd said.
Purchases may total 9 million
metric tonnes in the year to October 31, Dorab Mistry, a director at
Godrej, one of the nation’s top vegetable oil buyers, said on Wednesday.
Imports were 8.66 million tonnes last year. Soyabean and canola
inventories have risen to a record 5.5 million tonnes and 7 million
tonnes, the Solvent Extractor’s Association said on Monday.
Sustained
imports by India, the largest palm oil buyer, may support prices that
jumped 57 per cent last year. Prices slumped 1.5 per cent in the two
days after the association’s announcement, reaching a two-month low of
RM2,498 a tonne on Tuesday.
“Imports will be larger than last
year and the oilseeds inventory won’t affect purchases,” Mistry said in a
phone interview from Vijayawada in the eastern state of Andhra Pradesh.
“The Indian economy is going great guns and when the economy does well
demand has shown steady growth.”
Palm oil futures for delivery in June rose 0.8 per cent to RM2,539 a
tonne on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange on Wednesday. The price may
reach RM3,200 in the second half as El Nino parches crops in Asia,
Mistry said on March 9.
Mistry’s import estimate compares with
the 9.1 million tonnes forecast last month by India’s Central
Organisation for Oil Industry & Trade, a processors’ group.
Purchases may reach 10.1 million tonnes, the finance ministry said on
February 25. – Bloomberg
Source : Business Times
