India buys Russian sunflower oil at record price as Ukraine supplies halt

Thre report also says refiners bought crude sunflower oil at a record price of $2,150 a tonne, including cost, insurance and freight, in India for April shipments, compared with $1,630 before Russia invaded Ukraine.

India imports 60 percent of its edible oil requirement, which is about 13 million tonne. Russia and Ukraine together account for 60 percent of sunflower oil production and exports and, hence, supply shortage has spurred the prices further.

Sunflower oil from Russia could help boost the shortfall. The availability of vegetable oils is stretched because of Indonesia's decision to restrict palm oil supplies and lower soybean crop in South America.

Atul Chaturvedi, president at Solvent Extractors Association, had earlier told CNBC-TV that India consumes roughly about 200,000 tonne of sunflower oil every month. "This standoff between Russia and Ukraine has resulted in the supplies getting disrupted. But as far as February and March are concerned, the imports have been reasonable, but come April, we will start feeling the pinch. The core demand which cannot be replaced with any other oil, as far as sunflower is concerned, is about 100,000 tonne a month," Chaturvedi said.

He had also indicated that "some sunflower oil is actually moving out of two Russian ports". "Though the quantum is limited, that will take care of the core demand," he had said.

Sanjeev Kumar Asthana, CEO, Ruchi Soya Industries, had pointed to a possibility of 50 percent of the planting in Ukraine may not happen because of the war. That would keep pain points in sunflower oil industry for the foreseeable future.

Inputs from Reuters