India's love for oily food tries edible oil consumption leads to importing the import

Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limit all rights reserved. News Vijay C. Roy 4 min Read 21 Apr 2025, 05:30 Hours ist consumption of palm oil in India is now more than 37% of total edible oil consumption, according to the data of the sea. (Mint) Summary The center takes a number of steps to increase self -sufficiency. In October 2024, the Union Cabinet approved the national mission on edible oil oils (NMEO oil-Oilseeds) to promote domestic oilseed production and to make confidence: India’s growing appetite for fried and processed foods tried the country per capita consumption of edible oil, which resulted in a fierce dependence. From only 8.2 kg per person in 2001, the average Indian consumes 23.5 kg of edible oil annually, according to Ramesh Chand, a member of the Niti Aayog. This exceeds the limit of the Indian Medical Research Council (ICMR) of 12 kg. Chand said the government is working on edible oils under the national mission on the improvement of domestic production. “It has two components. One deals with palm oil, which produces higher yields than crops such as soybean and mustard. The second component deals with other oilseed crops in general. We work on both,” he said. Data from the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) have shown that the current edible oil consumption in the country is 25-26 million tons, and that domestic production is 11 million tonnes. The remaining 60 percent comes from import. The country exports edible palm oil from countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, soybean oil from Argentina and Brazil, and sunflower oil from Russia and Ukraine. Read also | The industry differs with the government of soybean, says the edible oil price to remain high while the domestic production of oilseeds has increased, it is not enough to handle the demand. According to people associated with the edible oil industry, India was quite self -sufficient in edible oil until the 1990s. However, years of low commodity prices have made the cultivation of oilseeds impeccable for farmers and decision makers. This has led to less attraction for authorities to improve oilseed production and productivity. “The import requirements of India in the middle of the 1990s were only 300,000 tons,” said Sea executive director of Sea. “With the opening of the economy and rising income levels, the consumption of India has increased. Compared to demand, the production of oilseeds has stagnated, which created great imbalance in supply-demand.” In 2023-24 (estimated), India imported 16 million tonnes (MT) of edible oils, with domestic production complying with only 40-45% of the country’s requirements. This situation presents a substantial challenge for the country’s purpose of achieving self -sufficiency in edible oils. Palm oil consumption in India is now more than 37%of total edible oil consumption, according to the data of the sea, the soybean oil exists about 20%, followed by mustard oil at 14%, and sunflower oil at 13%. Read also | In maps: Will rising edible oil prices braai your kitchen budget? Palm oil is mainly consumed by the Horeca (hotels, restaurants and catering), due to the demand for food outside the home, snack, ready to eat food, bakery and sugar. The demand for this oil is expected to grow by 10-15% in the coming years. The increase in consumption was over the edible oil segment. “In 1998, we started with 100 tonnes of rice oil a day. Now we have 600 tonnes a day refinement. We see a year-on-year growth of 15%,” says Ar Sharma, chairman of Ricela Group, mainly known for the production and processing of rice bran. Health issues high consumption of oil can lead to different health issues, mainly due to high calorie and fat content. Excessive oil intake can contribute to weight gain, obesity and the risk of heart disease, type II diabetes and certain cancers. “Oil consumption is very high in Indian society. It is not limited to fried objects, but even in routine foods, domestic consumption is very high and is not limited to the cities of the II cities, but also in cities of Tier-II and Tier-III,” said Dr. Mansi Chatrath, a nutritionist, based on panchkula in Haryana. “Not only that, the eating out has increased great over a period of time or even if people don’t eat, they order at home,” also read | What is cooking? Another surge in the import of edible oil “The high consumption has led to many health issues and the impact of the cardio-vascular system, digestive system and even the appearance of fatty liver has become very common these days, which is a source of concern. Toxicity is built up in the body and is also not good for people who are diabetes,” she added. The sharpening of domestic production The center takes a number of steps to increase self -sufficiency. In October 2024, the Union Cabinet approved the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oilseds ​​(Nmeo-Oilseeds) to promote the production of domestic oilseeds and to make confidence. The mission is implemented over a period of seven years, from 2024-25 to 2030-31, with a financial layout of £ 10.103 crore. The newly approved NMEO oilseeds will focus on improving the production of important primary oilseeds such as rapeseed material, peanuts, soybean, sunflower and sesame, as well as to increase the collection and extraction efficiency of secondary sources such as caton seeds, rice bran and tree-born oils. The mission aims to increase primary oilseed production from 39 million tonnes (2022-23) to 69.7 million tonnes by 2030-31. The center also launched the national mission on edible oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) in 2021 with a layout of £ 11,040 crore to increase oil palm cultivation in the country. Read also | What is cooking? A further surge in edible oil imports together, the two missions target to increase domestic edible oil production by 2030-31 to 25.45 million tonnes, and meet about 72% of the projected domestic requirement. This will be achieved through the acceptance of high-yields high oil content seed varieties, the expansion of the cultivation in ricebreak and the promotion of interrop. Catch all the business news, market news, news reports and latest news updates on Live Mint. Download the Mint News app to get daily market updates. More Topics #edible Oil #Edblaal Oil -Mint Specialies