MUMBAI, Sept 20 (Askume) – India’s palm oil output could triple in six years as acreage increases and plantations mature for harvest, a senior industry official said on Friday.
The world’s largest edible oil importer is dependent on palm oil supplies from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Increasing production will help India reduce edible oil imports, which account for about two-thirds of its total consumption.
India’s palm oil output is expected to rise from the current 400,000 tonnes to 1.2 to 1.5 million tonnes this year, said Saugata Niyogi, CEO of the oil palm plantation division of Godrej Agrovet Ltd (GODE.NS), India’s largest palm oil producer. This is possible because there are farmers .
Oil palm trees start bearing fruits 3-4 years after planting and the yield increases significantly after 6 years.
The palm oil industry has been booming since New Delhi began offering incentives to farmers in 2021 to curb vegetable oil imports, which led to losses of $15 billion last fiscal year.
Oil palm cultivation rose to 375,000 hectares (926,600 acres) last year and is expected to increase by 80,000 to 100,000 hectares this year, Niyogi told Askume on the sidelines of the Globoil India conference.
“Government policies are helping farmers to increase their acreage. The newly sown crops will be ready for harvesting by 2030-31 and then we will see a big jump in production,” he said.
India currently imports about 16 million tonnes of vegetable oil every year, including 9 to 10 million tonnes of palm oil, mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
Godrej Agrov expects to double palm oil production to 250,000 tonnes by 2030-31, Niyogi said.
He said two years ago there was a shortage of imported sprouts in India for plantation production but now there is sufficient quantity of sprouts available to accelerate the pace of oil palm cultivation.
