India to resume Ukraine sunflower oil imports
The import of Ukrainian sunflower oil to India will resume today.
The cancellation of trade through Black Sea corridors following the Russian invasion of Ukraine shocked India’s edible oil import integrity. Accordingly, India has negotiated to purchase approximately 50 to 60,000 metric tonnes of Ukrainian sunflower oil. Recent Kyiv-Moscow talks – supported by Turkey and the UN–have now secured freight passage of essential raw goods from three Ukrainian ports in hopes to alleviate a world food crisis.
Despite New Delhi’s (NFSM) food strategy supporting the domestic production of sunflower oil, 76% of Indian sunflower oil arrived from Ukraine for the 2021 fiscal year. India also secured the import of Russian and Indonesian palm oil following reductions in worldwide import prices – set to rise approximately above 800,000 tonnes.
As the accessibility of sunflower oil stabilizes with the reopening of Black Sea trade, expect global oil costs to decrease. In the short-term, anticipate India to take the financial opportunity to leverage continued edible oil trade with Ukraine, along with maintaining inexpensive Russian palm and crude oil imports. Expect India to bolster domestic capabilities of oil production and research in the long-term – as the NFSM underperformed when most needed this year – to relieve future economic concerns and domestic food security.
