MUMBAI (July 11): India's palm oil imports in June rose to reach the highest level in six months on robust demand from refiners for upcoming festivals, while sunflower oil imports surged to a record level, a leading trade body said on Thursday.

Higher palm oil purchases by India, the world's biggest importer of vegetable oils, could help leading producers Indonesia and Malaysia bring down stocks and support the benchmark Malaysian palm oil futures FCPOc3.

Palm oil imports rose about 3% in June from the previous month to 786,134 tonnes, the highest since December, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.

Palm oil has been trading at a discount to soybean oil and sunflower oil for many weeks, encouraging refiners to increase purchases for upcoming festivals, said a New Delhi-based dealer with a global trade house.

Crude palm oil imports were offered at about US$954 (RM4,484) a tonne, including cost, insurance and freight (CIF), in India for June delivery, while soyoil and sunflower oil were offered around US$1,049 and US$1,065 a tonne, respectively, the SEA said.

Imports of soyoil in June fell nearly 15% to 275,700 tonnes and sunflower oil imports gained 13.4% to a record 465,647 tonnes, with total vegetable oil imports up 1.4% to 1.55 million tonnes, the SEA said.

Sunflower oil usually holds a premium of more than US$100 per tonne over soybean oil and palm oil, but since it was trading at a discount in April, Indian refiners placed orders for June shipments, the dealer said.

India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while it imports soyoil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.

Sunflower oil imports in July will fall since it is no longer at a discount to rival oils, but palm oil imports will jump to 850,000 tonnes due to the recent correction in prices, said a Mumbai-based trader.

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