India resumes palm oil purchases from Malaysia

After a gap of nearly a month, Indian refiners have resumed buying Malaysian palm oil. This has been attributed to the fact that Kuala Lumpur has been offering a US$ 5 per tonne discount over supplies from rival Indonesia.

Indian refiners stopped purchases from Malaysia fearing that the government could increase import taxes or enforce other measures to curb imports. This ensued after Malaysia’s censure of India for the latter’s actions in Kashmir. A decision to this effect would have significantly impacted Malaysia’s palm oil exports as India is one of the largest importers of palm oil in the world.