The world’s  largest buyer of  sunflower oil  usually imports  most of  it  from the Black Sea region  through  the Red Sea. However, recent Houthi attacks have  forced  shipping companies to reroute trade between Europe and Asia  to  Africa, increasing  delays  and costs. 

  India’s  sunflower oil imports are  expected  to  fall  in  the  coming months as  prices rise, as  freight  rates rise,  prompting buyers to  switch  to  vegetable  oils, trading officials at Reuters said. Competitors are  available at  discounted prices.  

 The  world’s largest buyer of  sunflower oil  usually imports  most of  it  from the Black Sea region  through  the Red Sea. However, recent Houthi attacks have  forced  shipping companies to reroute trade between Europe and Asia  to  Africa, increasing  delays  and costs.  Sandeep Bajoria, CEO of Sunvin Group, a vegetable oil brokerage, said high  freight rates have  pushed  the  cost of  transporting  sunflower oil above  soybean oil  in India for the first time in nearly a  decade.  a  year.  

 “Sunoil imports  have increased sharply  in  recent  months due to  its  price advantage  over  soybean oil.  However,  the company has  lost this advantage  due to increased shipping costs,”  he said. 

  Traders said crude  sunflower oil imports are currently  priced  at  around $943/tonne,  including  costs,  insurance and freight (CIF),  to  India for  delivery in February,  while  soybean oil Crude oil  is  priced  at  about 935 USD/ton  and crude palm oil  is  at  933 USD.  

 Two months ago, sunflower oil was trading at a  price lower than soybean oil by  $120 per  ton,  which encouraged Indian traders to increase  imports of solar oil.  In December,  India’s solar oil  imports more than doubled from  the previous month, reaching  260,850 tons. 

  Soybean oil  imports in December  increased  1.8% to 152,650  tons,  but remained significantly below the average imports of 306,000 tons in the marketing year  ending  October 2023. 

  Rajesh Patel, managing partner at edible oil trading and brokerage firm GGN Research, said in  January, sunflower oil imports could fall to 225,000  tonnes  as  soybean oil  imports are  expected  to  cross  230,000  tonnes. 

 “In the coming  months,  sunflower oil imports  will decline  to around 200,000  tonnes  if the current price trend continues,” Patel said.  

 India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while it imports  soybean oil  and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.  Argentina  currently  offers solar oil  at more competitive prices than  countries in the  Black Sea  region,  said  an agent  with a global  trading company headquartered in Mumbai. He said shipping disruptions in the  Red Sea  will cause  India to buy more  soybean oil  from South America and less  solar oil  from the Black Sea  region.

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