Nov palm oil imports jump 29 mm to 1.14 mln T
Soyoil imports in Nov fall 31 mm to 229,373 T
Nov sunflower oil imports rise 8 mm to 157,709 T

MUMBAI, Dec 14 Reuters Palm oil imports to India, the world39;s biggest buyer, rose in November by 29 from the previous month as steep discounts to rivals soyoil and sunflower oil made purchases lucrative for local refiners, a trade body said on Wednesday.

Imports last month were 1.14 million tonnes, more than double from a year earlier, the Mumbaibased Solvent Extractors39; Association of India SEA said in a statement.

Higher Indian imports would help top producer Indonesia cut its inventories and support benchmark Malaysian palm oil prices , which have nearly halved from this year39;s record highs.

Palm oil shipments for November were much cheaper than soyoil, which prompted refiners to switch to palm oil from soyoil, said a Mumbaibased dealer with a global trade house.

For November shipments, buyers mostly placed orders in October, when palm oil was nearly 500 per tonne cheaper than rival soyoil as Indonesia was trying to reduce its stockpile, dealers said.

India39;s overall vegetable oil imports in November rose 10.6 to 1.55 million tonnes, the SEA said.

Soyoil imports fell 31 to 229,373 tonnes last month, while sunflower oil imports rose 8.8 to 157,709 tonnes, it said.

India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while it imports soyoil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine….