India's vegetable oil imports increased 13% to 7.94 million tonnes in the first six months of the 2025-26 oil year, according to the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA). The world's largest cooking oil consumer imported 7.04 million tonnes in the same period a year earlier, demonstrating significant growth in demand. India's oil year runs from November to October, making this data relevant for the November-April period. Latest data shows April 2026 imports reached 1,310,193 tonnes, representing a 34% increase from 975,025 tonnes in April 2025.
In value terms, imports for the November-April period climbed 19% to ₹87,000 crore compared to ₹73,000 crore a year ago, as reported by the SEA. Of the total imports, edible oils accounted for 7.82 million tonnes and non-edible oils for 121,000 tonnes. The significant value increase reflects both higher import volumes and elevated global prices across various oil categories. April 2026 alone saw edible oil imports worth ₹13.08 lakh crore, up from ₹11.73 lakh crore in March 2026, indicating strong month-on-month growth momentum.
Palm oil imports nearly doubled to 3.97 million tonnes from 2.74 million tonnes a year earlier, according to the SEA. In contrast, soft oil shipments, which include soybean and sunflower oils, fell to 3.85 million tonnes from 4.13 million tonnes. Indonesia and Malaysia serve as the primary suppliers of palm oil to India, while Argentina leads soybean oil supply followed by Brazil, and Russia and Ukraine provide sunflower oil. Latest data shows April 2026 palm oil imports at 2,200 tonnes, reflecting the continued dominance of this category in India's import portfolio.
Cooking oil prices rose sharply over the past year, with palm oil prices up 14-15% compared with April 2025 levels, as reported by the SEA. Soybean oil and sunflower oil prices increased between 17% and 22% over the same period. Additionally, a depreciation of the Indian rupee by over 9.2% against the dollar over the past year added to import costs, which the SEA called a cause of concern for importers and refiners.
Nepal exported approximately 2,17,000 tonnes of refined oils to India in the first half of the year, comprising mainly refined soybean oil with smaller volumes of refined sunflower oil, RBD palmolein and rapeseed oil, according to the SEA. Total vegetable oil stocks rose to 2.12 million tonnes in May 2026 from 1.35 million tonnes in May 2025, with pipeline stocks showing a steady upward trend from December 2025, indicating improved supply availability heading into the second half of the oil year.
