India’s import of sunflower oil falls 51% in Feb

New Delhi: India’s crude sunflower oil imports fell 51 per cent to 1,45,000 tonne in February, an industry body said on Thursday, as the ongoing conflict in West Asia and disruptions to Black Sea shipping routes pushed prices sharply higher.

The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) said average import price for crude sunflower oil rose 17 per cent to $1,420 per tonne in February from $1,216 a year earlier, while the rupee’s 4.2 per cent depreciation over the past year compounded costs for importers and refiners.

Russia and Ukraine together supply 70-90 per cent of India’s sunflower oil imports. War-related disruptions to Black Sea export routes, compounded by tensions in the Red Sea and Suez Canal, have tightened supplies and raised freight costs, SEA said.

“...the current conflict — especially potential disruptions in the Red Sea and Suez Canal — threatens to delay shipments, increasing logistic costs and affecting availability,” SEA said in a statement.

Imports in the first four months of the 2025-26 oil year, which began in November 2025, fell to 9.04 lakh tonne from 11.2 lakh tonne a year earlier.

“The risks of disrupted sunflower oil shipments from Russia and Eastern Europe, and higher freight costs for palm oil, have caused price hikes, forcing traders and consumers to closely monitor the situation to navigate supply chain risks,” SEA said.

To reduce dependence on Black Sea supplies, India has been in talks with Mercosur nations — Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay — for long-term soybean and sunflower oil contracts.

The conflict also poses a risk to India’s oilmeal exports, with logistical disruptions potentially affecting shipments to Southeast Asia and the Middle East, which account for nearly 20 per cent of total oilmeal exports.

SEA also flagged rising interest in palm oil-based biodiesel among biofuel producers, driven by higher crude prices, which could lift near-term palm oil demand in Southeast Asia.

Total vegetable oil imports — edible and non-edible — rose 6 per cent to 53.24 lakh tonne in February over the year-ago period. Palm oil imports stood at 8.47 lakh tonne and soybean oil at 2.99 lakh tonne.

As of March 1, vegetable oil stocks were at 18.72 lakh tonne, up 85,000 tonne from the previous month.