India's September sunflower oil import halved

India’s palm oil imports in September fell 27% on-year to their lowest in three months, due to lean demand from hotels and restaurants, while soyoil purchases jumped 28% in the month on higher household demand, a leading trade body said on Friday, Reuters reports.

The country imported 643,994 tonnes of palm oil in September, down from 879,947 last year, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.

"The south Asian country is the world’s biggest importer of edible oils, and lower purchases of palm oil could weigh on Malaysian palm oil prices. Higher soyoil imports could support U.S. soyoil prices," the message reads.

Related: Prices Driven High: Global Market for Sunflower Oil

India buys palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, and other oils, such as soyoil and sunflower oil, from Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine and Russia.

In the period of January-September 2020, sunflowerseed, safflower and cotton oil export from Ukraine totalled 4.99 mln t, 22% higher YoY. India's share in the total exports for the period stood at 25.12%.