MUMBAI: India’s palm oil imports in March jumped 57% year on year as refiners increased purchases of the tropical oil to reduce expensive sunflower oil imports, a trade body said on Thursday.

The country imported 526,463 tonnes of palm oil last month, while soyoil imports eased by 3% to 284,200 tonnes, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) said in a statement. The country’s sunflower oil imports halved to 146,970 tonnes in March after prices more than doubled in a year, it added.

India buys palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia while other oils, including soyoil and sunflower oil, are sourced from Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine and Russia.