India's palm oil imports from Malaysia, Indonesia drop on weak rupee

Malaysian palm oil futures jumped by more than 1 percent to its highest in nearly a month on Tuesday, extending gains into a third session on strength in related edible oils and earlier weakness in the ringgit.

MUMBAI: India's 2018/2019 palm oil imports dropped 6.4 percent from a year ago to 8.7 million tonnes as rupee depreciation and a credit crunch dented refiners' ability to buy overseas, a leading trade body said on Thursday.

India, the world's biggest importer of edible oils, buys palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, soyoil mainly from Argentina and Brazil, and sunflower oil from Ukraine.

The country's soyoil imports in the year ended on Oct. 31 fell 8.1 percent to 3.05 million tonnes, while sunflower oil purchases jumped 16.4 percent to 2.5 million tonnes, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.

India's total edible oil imports fell 3.7 percent to 14.5 million tonnes, the SEA said, - Reuters