In India, the imports of vegetable oils, both edible and non, have been growing exponentially in the last years (up by 45% since 2012). In the year 2016/17 (November to October), the country imported 15.44 million tons, up from 14.74 million tons last year. The increase is caused by stagnant local production and constantly growing demand. At the same time, we see a change in the share of imported oils as imports of palm oil decrease and imports of soybean oil go up. This depends, though, mostly on the price attractiveness of each of the oils at a given moment.
Indonesia and Malaysia plan a joint action against EU’s will to cut palm oil imports
However, the imports’ growth might slow down in the next months as India increased import duties on edible oils. With prices of domestic oilseeds falling down, the country decided to support local producers by imposing new rates: crude soybean oil 30% (from 17.5%), crude palm oil 30% (from 15%), crude sunflower oil 25% (from 12.5%), crude canola/rapeseed oil 25% (from 12.5%).
Indonesia and Malaysia, the two world’s biggest palm oil producers, announced that they are considering a joint action against the EU’s ban on palm oil imports. The EU parliament proposed a resolution to ban palm oil in biofuels by 2020 and to introduce tighter sustainability controls. According to Malaysia and Indonesia, the proposed rules of EU are discriminatory. The EU is a key buyer of palm oil accounting for 17% of Indonesia’s export and 13% of Malaysia’s. For now, the EU’s resolution has not been confirmed.
Fuente: Extracto del Newsletter de Greenea.com de Noviembre de 2017.
