Rising edible oil prices may hit new highs in coming days as Indonesia, the world's largest producer of palm oil, has decided to ban exports from April 28. A halt in supplies from Indonesia would mean a loss of about 4 million tonne of palm oil every month for India. India’s sunflower oil supplies had halved to nearly 100,000 tonnes per month following the Ukraine war and this could make things worse for households. The edible oil is being sold between Rs 180-260 a kg in the retail markets across India.
Sources in the government said if suddenly, monthly supplies of around 300,000-325,000 tonnes of palm oil stop from May onwards it will cause a sharp escalation in edible oil prices which have been already on the boil due to the ongoing Russia- Ukraine crisis.
A data showed that of the 19 kg of edible oil consumed by an individual in India every year, more than 11 kg comes from imports. Current consumption of edible oil in India is approximately 22 million tons, out of which 13 million tonnes or roughly 59 per cent is imported.
India imports 8 million tonnes of palm oil from countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia; 3.5 million tons of soybean oil from Argentina, Brazil and USA, and 2 mln tonnes of sunflower oil from Ukraine, Russia and Argentina. Sources in the government said if suddenly, monthly supplies of around 300,000-325,000 tonnes of palm oil stop from May onwards it will cause a sharp escalation in edible oil prices which have been already on the boil due to the ongoing Russia- Ukraine crisis.
Palm oil is used in products from cooking oils to processed foods, cosmetics and biofuels. It is the world's most widely used vegetable oil and is used in the manufacture of many products including biscuits, margarine, laundry detergents and chocolate.Indonesia, on Friday announced plans to ban exports of the most widely used vegetable oil, in a shock move that could further inflame surging global food inflation. The halting of shipments of the cooking oil and its raw material, widely used in products ranging from cakes to cosmetics, could raise costs for packaged food producers globally and force governments to choose between using vegetable oils in food or for biofuel.
