What keeps cooking oil prices on simmer?
In 2021-22, India consumed 25. 8 million tonnes (MT) of vegetable oil, around 6 MT more than what it consumed a decade before. The country relies on imports to meet the bulk of its needs and that means the prices of these oils in the domestic market are linked to international rates. The international prices of crude edible oils saw a steep fall between May 2022 and May 2023 (the month for which latest data is available). However, domestic prices didn’t witness a proportionate slide. Consider this: crude palm oil and RBD (refined) palmolein saw a 45% drop in prices internationally; but the fall in retail prices in India was just 21% for vanaspati and 29% for palm oil between May 2022 and July 2023 despite July prices being lower than May. It was a similar story for soybean and sunflower oils.
