India: Oilseeds and Products Update

FAS New Delhi’s forecast for India’s soybean oilseed production for marketing year (MY) 2023/24 is revised to 12 million metric tons (MMT), slightly lower than the MY 2022/23 at 12.4 MMT which accounts for the impact of the El Nino weather pattern. India’s soybean oil production for MY 2023/24 is 1.7 MMT, a slight decrease from MY 2022/23 but still a relatively high-level owing to consistent yields and total supply of oilseeds used for “crush-to-oil” over the last two years. As domestic feed and food demand is higher, Indian soybean oil exports are minimal. The import of edible oils in MY 2023/24 decreased from nearly 17 MMT in MY 2022/23 to 15 MMT in the current MY. The top three vegetable oil imports – palm, soybean, and sunflower seed oil decreased by 6.5, 15.4 and 6.9 percent respectively due to various geo-political-economic dynamics and increased domestic production goals in India. India’s soymeal production forecast for MY 2023/24 is 7.5 MMT which is lower than the MY 2022/23.