NEW DELHI, Oct 11 (Reuters) - India's imports of refined palm oil are expected to have fallen again in September after the government hiked import costs from August to protect domestic refiners from cheap Indonesian supplies, a Reuters survey showed.
Traders forecast refined palm oil imports in September would be between 50,000 and 75,000 tonnes, with the average at 61,250 tonnes, down 23 percent from August.
They expect refined palm oil imports to hover around this figure again in October, the last month of the current marketing year, despite the start of a festival season when demand traditionally rises because of celebrations.
Imports of refined palm oil have been in decline since June, when expectations grew that India would make purchases dearer to protect its processors. The hike, which took effect from Aug. 1, was targeted at holding down growing palm oil imports.
India's refined palm oil imports rose 71.6 percent to 1.4 million tonnes in the first 10 months of the year from November 2011 after top producer Indonesia changed taxes in October 2011 to make the product cheaper and support its own refining industry.
TOTAL PALM OIL IMPORTS UP 13.9 PCT
Total palm oil imports rose 13.9 percent to 800,000 tonnes as prices of the crude eased about 17 percent in the last month in the face of huge stockpiles in Malaysia, the world's No. 2 producer, according to the average of a survey of eight traders.
Poor demand from leading buyers such as China and the European Union also kept palm prices down, they said.
Currently, imported refined palm oil is quoted at about $830 a tonne on a cost and freight basis on India's west coast, while imported crude palm oil is around $780 a tonne.
India mainly buys palm oils from Indonesia and Malaysia, and small quantities of soyoil from Argentina and Brazil. Imports meet about half of the country's annual demand of 15 million to 16 million tonnes.
About 80 percent of India's cooking oil imports are palm oil, while soft oils such as soy and sunflower make up the rest.
Imports of soy oil fell in September as its premium to rival palm oil widened to as high as $300 a tonne. Sunflower oil imports declined as demand for fried foods eased off in the last month of the Indian summer.
Total September vegetable oil imports, including small amounts of non-edible oils, are likely to have risen by 6.6 percent to 956,625 tonnes from August, pushing up end-September stocks at Indian ports by 5.5 percent.
"Edible oil imports could be about 900,000 tonnes in October," said R. Ramamoorthy, a Hyderabad-based trader.
Industry body the Solvent Extractors' Association of India is expected to release September import data on Monday.
