Edible oil prices rise by 15% in a month

The prices of crude palm oil (CPO) have gone up to 15 per cent in last one month after India imposed restrictions on imports on refined palm oil from Malaysia.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), all CPO futures traded up on Friday, while the CPO price in January expiry futures contract rose to Rs 839.80 per 10 kg. A month ago on December 10, the CPO price on MCX was Rs 731.40 per 10 kg which means the CPO prices have gone up by 15 per cent in the last one month.

With palm oil imports steadily rising, there has been an increase in the prices of all edible oils.

According to the retail price available on the website of the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, the price of mustard oil in Delhi has increased by Rs 12 per kg in the last one month. The price of mustard oil was Rs 124 per kg on December 10, 2019 in Delhi, which rose to Rs 136 per kg on January 10, 2020. At the same time, the price of palm oil has increased from Rs 91 a month to Rs 105 a kg in Delhi. In Delhi, the price of soya oil has increased from Rs 106 to Rs 122 per kg in a month.

At the same time, in terms of wholesale price, the price of crude condensed mustard oil in Jaipur was Rs 954 per 10 kg on Friday, which was Rs 905 per 10 kg on December 10, 2019. Soya oil price in Madhya Pradesh-based Benchmark Mandi, Indore, was Rs 945 per 10 kg on January 10, 2020 as against Rs 860 per 10 kg a month earlier.

The price of refined palm oil (RBD) (refined bleached and deodorized) was Rs 890 per 10 kg at Kandla Port in Gujarat on Friday, which was Rs 810 per 10 kg in December. The price of Suryamukhi refined at Kandla Port was Rs 960 per 10 kg on January 10, 2020 from Rs 860 per 10 kg a month ago.

The price of RBD palmolein in Malaysia was $800 per tonne (FOB) on Friday, which was $710 per tonne in December.

India imports most of the soya oil from Argentina where on December 9, 2019, the price of soya oil was $741.25 per ton (FOB) which increased to $823 per ton on January 9, 2020.

Notably, the Indian government on Wednesday put refined palm oil imports from Malaysia into the restricted category, although crude palm oil (CPO) imports will continue from Malaysia.

India imported 149.13 lakh tonnes of edible oil during the last season 2018-19 (November-October), compared to 145.16 lakh tonnes of edible oil during 2017-18 a year earlier. The total vegetable oil (edible and non-edible oil) imports stood at 155.49 lakh tonnes in 2018-19 while the total vegetable oil imports during the year 2017-18 was 150.02 lakh tonnes. At the same time, RBD imports were 27.31 lakh tonnes in 2018-19, while RBD imports were 21.36 lakh tonnes a year ago.

These figures have been compiled by the Indian Edible Oil Industry Solvent Extractors Association of India. Oil market expert Salil Jain said that the price of edible oil has increased worldwide and due to shortage of stock in India as of now we can’t expect any relief from oil inflation.

Solvent Extractors Association president Atul Chaturvedi told IANS that India mainly relies on imports for edible oil, so increasing domestic production of oil and oilseeds is the need of the hour.-IANS News