New Delhi, India – The ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict has disrupted India’s edible oil market which gets more than 90 percent of its sunflower oil from those two countries, experts say. The resultant increase in retail prices could worsen if the war continues to rage on.
India consumes about 25 million tonnes of edible oil each year, of which it imports about 55 percent, making it the largest importer of edible oils in the world. In the financial year ending March 2021, it imported about 13.35 million tonnes of edible oils worth more than $10.5bn, according to government data (PDF). Of this, palm oil accounts for about 56 percent, soybean oil for 27 percent, and sunflower for about 16 percent.
