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India's palm oil imports record upward shift leading to 51% surge
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Friday, 20 February, 2026, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi
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In January 2026, India's palm oil imports experienced an upward shift leading to a 51% surge in imports for the month.
This increase brought palm oil imports to a four-month peak of 766,384 metric tons, recovering from a period of significant depletion in domestic stocks between October and December 2025.
?Shankar Thakkar, president of the All India Edible Oil Traders Federation, noted that the primary driver is the attractive pricing of palm oil, which is currently over $100 per ton cheaper than soybean oil.
"This price gap has led refiners to prioritise the tropical oil over more expensive soft oils. Consequently, imports of soybean oil plummeted by 44% to 278,888 tons—the lowest since June 2024—while sunflower oil imports dropped 23.8% to 266,575 tons," said Thakkar.
?Despite the palm oil surge, India’s total edible oil imports for January actually fell by 3.7% to 1.31 million tons as the sharp decline in soybean and sunflower oils offset the gains. Domestically, vegetable oil stocks have tightened, falling to 1.75 million tons as of February 1, down from 2.18 million tons a year ago.
?Looking ahead, experts predict palm oil imports could exceed 800,000 tons in February. While aggressive purchasing may put upward pressure on domestic prices, Thakkar highlighted a potential silver lining for consumers, a duty-free quota for soybean oil under the India-US trade agreement, which could provide much-needed price relief.
As the world's largest buyer of vegetable oils, India’s strategic shifts continue to dictate global market trends, particularly for major suppliers like Indonesia, Malaysia, Argentina, and Brazil.
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