India bought canola oil for delivery in August for the first time in nearly five years, as local prices hit a three and a half-year high, making overseas purchases lucrative.
A shipment of 6,000 tons of canola oil from the United Arab Emirates is expected to arrive this month.
India mainly buys palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, while it imports soyoil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.
In July, rapeseed oil prices in the spot market surged to $2,659 Canadian per ton — the highest since February 2022 and almost 34 per cent above year-ago levels.
India’s soyoil imports have also been rising, with some buyers substituting costlier rapeseed oil with the cheaper alternative.
