India's February vegoil imports down on high local supply

India imported 549,881 tonnes of vegetable oils in February, down by about a fifth from a year ago, trade data released on Monday showed, a fall largely due to higher crushing of domestic oilseeds following a normal monsoon. India, the world's No 1 importer of cooking oils, buys mainly palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia and a small quantity of soyaoil from Argentina and Brazil.
It imported 700,769 tonnes in February 2010, about 21.5 percent more than the imports in February this year. A Reuters survey of traders had predicted a 26 percent fall in the annual imports of vegetable oils in February, including non-edibles. In February, vegetable oil imports fell 24 percent from the previous month to 549,881 tonnes, data from the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEAI) showed. The Reuters poll had forecast a 28 percent monthly drop.
Palm oil imports, the main variety in the basket, fell 29 percent in February to 371,295 tonnes from the previous month, while soyaoil imports more than doubled to 129,640 tonnes on seasonal demand, beating market expectations. In India, soyaoil consumption goes up in the winter season as rival palm, a tropical oil, solidifies at lower temperatures. In the November-February period, vegetable oil imports fell 13.5 percent from a year earlier to 2.7 million tonnes on better local oilseeds crushing.
"Increased crushing activity boosted local availability," said B.V. Mehta, executive director at the SEAI. Mehta said imports of palm oil had also fallen in part due to higher international prices. Early last month, the benchmark palm oil contract hit 3,967 ringgit ($1,306), a level not reached since March 2008, on supply concerns after massive floods in Malaysia swamped key oil palm areas and restocking by China after the Lunar Year break.
April soyaoil futures on India's National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) was down by 0.6 percent to 610.9 rupees per 10 kg at 0715 GMT, taking cues from global markets. On Monday, Malaysian crude palm oil futures reversed earlier gains, falling to a three and a half month low as investors sought safe haven assets after last week's earthquake in Japan, and easing unrest in the Middle East weighed on crude oil.