The country's palm oil imports during October-January were robust, but demand was weak, forcing refineries to reduce purchases in February, said Rajesh Patel, managing partner of GGN Research.

Soybean oil imports in February declined 7.3 percent from January to 340,000 tons, while sunflower oil imports fell 67 percent to 150,000 tons of record high imports in January, dealers said. India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. It imports soybean and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.

Palm oil was struggling to compete last month as its discount on soybeans and sunflower oil declined to about $200 per tonne from up to $500 in the December quarter, a Mumbai dealer with a global trading house reported. But India's recent moves to halt tax-free imports of sunflower oil and soybean oil could support palm oil in the coming months, said Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of Sunvin Group, an oil broker and vegetable consultancy.

On Wednesday, India decided to rule out a tax-free import quota of 2 million tons of crude sunflower oil for the next fiscal year from April 1. The measure could lead to higher imports of palm oil, which previously attracted taxes, even when imports of sunflower oil and soybean oil were allowed tax-free under the quota.

Source: Agrolink