Mumbai, Sept 26 - Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd, India's biggest vegetable oil importer, is expected to buy 20-40 percent more in the year from November, a senior company official said on Saturday.
The company would import 1.8-2.1 million tonnes of vegetable oils in 2009/10, up from 1.5 million tonnes in the previous year and palm oil would constitute 1.5 million tonnes of the expected purchases next year, Managing Director Dinesh Shahra told reporters.
India's vegetable oil imports next year were expected to be 8.7 million tonnes, almost unchanged from this year's likely record purchases, he said.
Imports by India, the world's top buyer of vegetable oils so far this year, rose 50 percent to 7.07 million tonnes in the first 10 months of the oil year from November 2008.
The country, which buys palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia and small quantities of soyoil from Brazil and Argentina, imported 6.3 million tonnes in 2007/08.
"Despite the fact that we are importing very large quantities this year and see next year's imports at almost the same level, near term global prices are expected in the reasonable range of 1,800-2,250 ringgit a tonne in October-December," he said.
On Friday, benchmark December contract <KPOc3> on the Bursa Malaysia Derivative Exchange settled at 2,186 Malaysian ringgit ($630), up 71 ringgit, halting two straight days of declines, and moving above the 200-day moving average of 2,141 ringgit.
Crude palm oil prices in Malaysia, the world's second-biggest palm oil producer, hit a record 4,486 ringgit a tonne in March 2008 before collapsing in the global financial downturn.
Ruchi Soya, also a leading exporter of soymeal, expects to sell 1.5 million tonnes of the animal feed next year against 900,000 tonnes sold in the previous year.
India, Asia's leading supplier of soymeal, was expected to export 4.5-4.6 million tonnes in the year from October, up from 3.7 million tonnes sold in the previous year, Shahra said.
Traders say India has struck deals to export 600,000-700,000 tonnes of the new season oilmeal.
"Our soybean crop has gained from recent rains and bean production seems to be at 9.5 million tonnes from 8.5-8.7 million tonnes a year ago," he said.
Soybeans are crushed into soyoil and soymeal, a high protein animal feed.
Shahra said other top soymeal suppliers such as Brazil and Argentina would find it difficult to penetrate Southeast Asian countries, traditional buyers of Indian meal, due to poor stocks and the United States would not have marketable surplus.
"Beyond our traditional markets, we are also looking at Europe which is likely to emerge as a big market for India this time. Perhaps only India can meet the European demand for non-GM (genetically modified) feed," he said.