MUMBAI, India (Reuters) — Indian palm oil importers have effectively stopped all purchases from top supplier Malaysia after the government privately urged them to boycott its product following a diplomatic spat, industry and government sources said.
The warning, issued earlier this month, comes almost in parallel with New Delhi’s move to restrict imports of refined palm oil and palmolein after Malaysia’s prime minister criticized India’s actions in Kashmir and its new citizenship law.
Consequently, Indian importers were not buying any crude or refined palm oil from Malaysia, at least five industry sources familiar with the matter said.
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“Officially there is no ban on crude palm oil imports from Malaysia, but nobody’s buying due to government’s instructions,” said a leading refiner, adding that buyers now import from Indonesia despite paying a premium to prices in Malaysia.
India is the world’s largest importer of palm oil, buying more than nine million tonnes annually, mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia.
The move to effectively block imports from Malaysia could push up the country’s palm oil inventories and put pressure on its prices, which set the global benchmark for the oil.
It could also benefit Indonesia, the world’s largest exporter of crude palm oil (CPO).
“We could import CPO from Malaysia, but the government has warned, ‘don’t come to us if your shipments get stuck,’ ” said a Mumbai-based trader.
“No one wants to see their shipments get stuck at ports.”
India was Malaysia’s biggest buyer of palm oil in 2019 with 4.4 million tonnes of purchases, Malaysian Palm Oil Board data showed.
In 2020, Indian purchases could fall below one million tonnes, even if some buyers make small shipments to fulfil old orders, the trader said.
Indian government and industry sources have said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government was seeking to target Malaysia after recent criticism of India by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Mahathir said in October that India “invaded and occupied” Kashmir, a disputed Muslim-majority region also claimed by Pakistan. Last month he said India was stoking unrest with its new citizenship law, which critics say undermines the country’s secular foundations.
Indian refiners and traders have shifted almost all palm oil purchases to Indonesia, despite having to pay a $10 per tonne premium over Malaysian prices, four traders told Reuters.
Malaysian crude palm oil for February shipment was available at $800 a tonne on a free-on-board (f.o.b.) basis, compared to $810 from Indonesia, traders said.
“Like everyone else, we are paying a premium for Indonesian supplies. For a small profit we can’t gamble,” said a refiner based at Kolkata.
Palm oil prices have jumped 60 percent in the last six months because of a drop in production and higher demand for biofuel.
