India’s Cooking oil imports hit a record in the first 10 months of the ongoing oil year ending October 31 from a year earlier. This has been shown by complied data of the Solvent Extractors Association (SEA). According to the industry estimates, the total cooking oil imports are likely to touch the previous high of 16.46 million tonnes hit in 2022-23, with the imports in September and October expected to be same to the level of last year.
What about Palm oil in cooking oil imports?
Particularly, the shift is visible in Palm oil imports. Since the imports during the ten-month period rose tp 65.34 lakh tonnes from 61.47 lakh tonnes, with its share increasing mariginally to 48% from 47%. Moreover, the soft oil imports, including soybean, sunflower, rapeseed and other oils, also increased to 70.86 lakh tones from 68. 77 lakh tonnes
Nepal – an important supplier of refined soybean oil
Notably, Nepal has become as an important supplier of refined soybean oil to India. During November 2025-August 2026, Nepal exported 5.99 lakh tonnes of refined oils to India, including 5.32 lakh tonnes of refined soybean oil. Nepal imports crude soybean oil, refines it and exports the refined product to India. Its exports enjoy nil import duty under the SAFTA agreement.
What about Cooking oil prices?
Apart from this, the average price of cooking oil has increased by 15% over the past year, driven by depreciation of the Indian rupee and increase in international cooking oil prices. Edible oil imports marginally rose to 1.57 million tonnes in August from almost 1.55 million tonnes in July 2026 on a month-on-month basis which is primarily driven by an increase in imports of soybean oil.
Total imports
Total imports in the first ten months (November 2025 to August 2026) of the 2025-26 oil year increased to 13.62 million tonnes from about 13.03 million tonnes a year earlier.
