India's August sunflower oil imports up 89.6%

Russia, Argentina major suppliers

After the Ukraine crisis, Russia and Argentina have emerged as major suppliers of sunflower oil to India as imports of the cooking oil jumped 89.6% to 1.35 lakh tonnes in August, according to Solvent Extractors Association.

India, the world's leading vegetable oil buyer, is dependent on imports of sunflower oil, which constitutes 16% of the total edible oil imports.

Before the Russia-Ukraine crisis, 70% of the sunflower oil imported by India used to come from Ukraine and 20% from Russia. But imports have been severely affected after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in late February this year.

"Russia and Argentina turn to be major suppliers of sunflower oil to India," industry body Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) said in a statement.

In August this year, India imported about 1,35,000 tonnes of sunflower oil mainly from Russia, and Argentina and a small quantity from Turkey, which was 89.6% higher than 71,340 tonnes in the same month of the previous year, it said.

Of the total sunflower oil imports, the shipments from Russia increased to 72,780 tonnes in August this year, from 28,840 tonnes in the year-ago period.

Similarly, the import of sunflower oil from Argentina increased to 30,600 tonnes in August this year from 12,500 tonnes in the year-ago period. About 14,588 tonnes has been imported from Turkey in August.