Vegetable oil imports up at 155.5 lakh tonnes

New Delhi: India's vegetable oil imports increased by 3.5 per cent to 155.5 lakh tonnes in 2018-19 marketing year ended October, due to increase in inward shipments in refined oils, according to industry data.

Imports of vegetable oils (comprising edible and non-edible oils) stood at 150.26 lakh tonnes in the previous year.

While shipments of edible oil increased to 149.13 lakh tonnes in the 2018-19 marketing year (November-October) from 145.16 lakh tonnes in the previous year, the imports of non-edible oil grew to 6,36,159 tonnes from 5,09,748 tonnes during the period under review, Solvent Extractors' Association said in a statement.

Import of refined oil has sharply increased to 27.31 lakh tonnes compared to 21.36 lakh tonnes during the same period last year.

Crude oil import has decreased to 121.82 lakh tonnes compared to 123.81 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period previous year.

Annual capacity utilisation of domestic refining industry has reduced to 46 per cent.