MUMBAI, May 11 (Reuters) - India's vegetable oils imports in April rose 27 percent from a month earlier largely on a surge in crude palm oil and soyoil purchases, but imports of refined palm oil dropped as buyers feared they could face fresh import duties, a trade body said.
India, the world's largest vegetable oil importer, buys mainly palm oils from Indonesia and Malaysia, and a small quantity of soyoil from Brazil and Argentina.
Total vegetable oil imports in April stood at 925,334 tonnes, broadly as expected by traders, including 897,404 tonnes of edible oils and 27,930 tonnes of non-edible oils, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said in a statement on Friday. [ID:nL4E8G3401]
Imports of refined palm oil in April fell to 97,547 tonnes from 186,788 tonnes in March, slightly below expectations.
India's refining industry has been asking the government for retaliatory action to Indonesia's move to make its refined palm oil more attractive than crude to protect its refining industry.
Concerns that this would be imposed while shipments were en route kept buying of refined palm oils subdued, the SEA told Reuters.
But the government has so far held off, fearful of fuelling near double-digit inflation as edible oil imports carry a weight of 3.04 in the wholesale price index. [ID:nL4E8E51LY]
"Traders are cautiously buying refined palm oil. They are expecting some restructuring in duty by the government to halt the cheaper flow of refined products," B.V. Mehta, executive director of SEA, told Reuters.
Imports of refined palm oil since the start of the year in November have risen 89 percent on a year ago after Indonesia altered duties in October 2011 to make its refined palm oils more attractive than crude palm oil (CPO).
Imports of crude palm oil rose to 414,590 tonnes in April from 278,696 tonnes in the previous month as buying focus shifted from the costlier refined variant.
Soyoil imports in April more than doubled to 216,509 tonnes from 100,615 tonnes in March as some delayed shipments from south America arrived after transport disruptions in Argentina.
