Crude edible oil imports in India witnessed a 25% surge Y-O-Y in June 2025
India witnessed a 25% surge in crude edible oil imports during June 2025, driven primarily by the government's recent reduction of import duties on crude varieties. This remarkable growth occurred even as the country's total vegetable oil imports remained unchanged at 1.54 million tonnes, mirroring the previous year's volume for the same period.
The surge followed the Indian government's decision to reduce the Basic Customs Duty on crude edible oils from 20% to 10% effective May 31, 2025, covering key products including crude palm oil, crude soybean oil, and crude sunflower oil.
The total vegetable oil imports, encompassing both edible and non-edible varieties, reached 1.55 million tonnes in June 2024. Within the edible oil segment, imports of crude variants excluding sunflower oil increased by 25.64% to 1.15 million tonnes compared to 916,000 tonnes in June 2024. This growth was led by crude palm oil, which saw a 23.55% rise to 788,000 tonnes, and crude soybean oil, which jumped 30.39% to 359,000 tonnes. Crude palm kernel oil imports also expanded by 33.33%, albeit from a smaller base. In contrast, crude sunflower oil shipments declined sharply by 53.58% to 261,000 tonnes.
Refined edible oil imports showed mixed trends, with RBD palmolein volumes increasing to 163,000 tonnes. Non-edible oil imports decreased to 18,497 tonnes during the same period. Government agencies currently hold substantial reserves of approximately 1.4 million tonnes each of soybean and rapeseed. With edible oil prices rising, authorities may release significant portions of these stocks ahead of the upcoming kharif soybean harvest in two and a half months. Such measures could help stabilize prices during the forthcoming festive season while alleviating storage pressures on government agencies.
India's position as the world's largest edible oil consumer and importer is reflected in its current edible oil stocks of 1.56 million tonnes as of July 2025. Over the first eight months of the 2024-25 oil year (November-June), total vegetable oil imports reached 9.43 million tonnes, representing an 8% decline from the previous year's 10.22 million tonnes.
The country sources palm oil primarily from Indonesia and Malaysia, while soybean oil imports come mainly from Argentina, Brazil, and Russia. Sunflower oil supplies are dominated by Russia and Ukraine. The evolving import patterns and government interventions continue to shape India's edible oil market dynamics.
