India increases sunflower oil imports from Russia 17% in Q1 - Agroexport

MOSCOW. May 29 (Interfax) - India imported almost $353 million worth of sunflower oil from Russia in the first quarter of 2024, 17% more than in the same period last year, the Agriculture Ministry's Agroexport Center reported, citing data from Indian customs.

Russia's share in the total volume of sunflower oil shipments to India increased from 27% in Q1 2023 to 39% for the same period of this year.

One of the exporters of Russian sunflower oil to India is the Blago Group of Companies, which started shipments in February of this year.

As Agroexport reported, citing the Blago Group press service, shipments of 6,000 or 12,000 tonnes of products are sent to the Indian market every month. "Therefore, 24,000 tonnes have already been exported, not including the May shipment. We plan to maintain this pace in the future," Blago said. "The geographical remoteness of the country forces us to adjust product logistics; shipments can only be done in large quantities. We needed to create the required volume of products using the capacities of three factories, and then carry out multimodal shipment, which includes offshore transshipment."

India increased imports of Russian agricultural products 1.8% in the first quarter to $572 million. As a result, Russia's share in the country's total imports increased from 4.2% to 7.1%. At the end of the quarter, Russia rose to fourth place among the largest suppliers of agricultural products to the Indian market.

In addition to vegetable oil, India's main agricultural purchases from Russia are peas and lentils.