India's edible oil imports in August rose 5% to a record 1.85 million metric tons as refiners purchased more than 1 million tons of palm oil for the second consecutive month to build stocks for upcoming festivals, four dealers told Reuters.
Higher purchases by the world's biggest importer of vegetable oils could help to lower palm oil stocks in Indonesia and Malaysia and support benchmark futures. The buying has helped strengthen soybean oil futures and could reduce inventories in sunflower oil-producing Black Sea countries.
India's average monthly edible oil imports in the 2021/22 marketing year were 1.17 million tons, trade body Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said.