Indian cooking oil imports hit record

India's cooking oil imports hit a record high in 2013/14 due to a surge in overseas purchases of soya and sunflower oils, a trade body said on Thursday, adding that low global prices could spur even higher imports in the current year. Record imports by the world's top buyer could provide some support to global prices. Malaysian palm oil futures, the regional benchmark, have fallen nearly 17 percent in 2014 because of high unsold stocks in Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, the world's top producer.
Imports of all cooking oils rose to 11.62 million tonnes in the year that ended in October from 10.38 million a year earlier, the Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA) said on Thursday. That 12 percent increase was mainly due to a surge in imports of soya and sunflower oil at the expense of palm oil, imports of which fell for the first time in four years.