India's palm oil imports could fall 19% to the lowest level in 11-years as soyoil, now cheaper, takes more market share because of Indonesia's curbs on palm oil exports and New Delhi's move to allow duty-free imports of soyoil, dealers said.
Lower palm oil purchases by the world's biggest vegetable oil importer could put pressure on Malaysian palm oil prices and may lift soyoil imports to record highs and support U.S. soyoil futures prices.
India's palm oil imports in the 2021/22 marketing year, ending on Oct. 31, could fall to 6.7 million tonnes, the lowest since 2010/11, according to the average forecast from five dealers.
Soyoil imports in the year could jump 57% from a year before to a record 4.5 million tonnes, they said.
India on Tuesday allowed duty-free imports of 2 million tonnes each of crude soyoil and crude sunflower oil for the current and next fiscal years, ending March 31, as part of efforts to keep a lid on local edible-oil prices.
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