Analyst: India to rely on M’sia reasonably priced palm oil

KUALA LUMPUR: India will always be dependent on Malaysia for palm oil, as it is the cheapest edible oil in the world.

Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics owner and co-founder Dr Sathia Varqa said India is 74% dependent on edible oil imports, as the country is heavily dependent on rainwater for the irrigation of its agricultural sector.

“In India, only 37%-40% of the agricultural land is irrigated, while this year, the country is expected to produce only nine million tonnes of soybeans from the expected 12 million tonnes due to the late arrival of the monsoon, ” he said.

Sathia said this in his presentation titled, Palm oil driver of economic sustainability at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board International Palm Oil Congress and Exhibition 2019 here yesterday.

Hence, demand wise, he said the main growth market for palm oil would still be India and China, while in the next 10 years, the main growth markets would be India, Indonesia and China.

“China will use the mix of edible oils from Malaysia, as the country is heavily short of soybean oil due to lower crushing of soybean hurt by the recent African swine fever outbreak, ” he said. — Bernama

Source: TheStar