MUMBAI: India’s palm oil and soyoil imports surged to their highest levels in about a year in July, as refiners increased purchases for upcoming festivals amid a correction in prices, a leading trade body said on Wednesday.

Higher palm oil purchases by the world’s biggest importer of vegetable oils will bring down inventories in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia and support benchmark futures, which are trading near their lowest level in seven months.

India’s palm oil imports rose more than 37% in July from the previous month to about 1.1 million metric tons, the highest since August 2023 and in line with traders’ estimates, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) said.

Imports of soyoil gained 42% to 391,791 tons, the highest in 13 months, while sunflower oil imports fell 21.3% to 366,541 tons, the SEA said in a statement.

Total vegetable oil imports jumped 22.2% in July to 1.9 million tons, the second highest on record, the SEA said.

India on average has been importing 1.3 million tons of edible oil so far in the marketing year beginning November 2023.

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Imports in July rose in anticipation of improved demand for the upcoming festival season, but the surge led to congestion at Kandla port, causing berthing delays of 8 to 10 days, the SEA said.

Higher imports lifted vegetable oil stocks in the country to 2.9 million tons, the highest in eight months, the trade body said.

India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while it imports soyoil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.

Vegetable oil imports in August are likely to moderate to around 1.5 million tons as traders are curtailing purchases of palm oil and sunflower oil, a Mumbai-based trader said.