12 July 2024 Punjab Khabarnama : The weighted average rainfall across the country today was 4.6 mm, 51% below the normal rainfall of 9.5 mm for Thursday, India Meteorological Department said. Since Jun 1, India has received 251.9 mm of rainfall, 2% below the normal of 257.8 mm for the period, the weather bureau said. Allfour homogenous regions in the country received below normal rainfall today. The rainfall was 24% below normal at 12.0 mm in east and northeast India, 65% below normal at 2.6 mm in northwest India, and 64% below normal at 3.5 mm in central India. The rainfall was 42% below normal at 3.8 mm in south peninsula India. So far during the season, the rainfall has been normal in 18 out of the 36 subdivisions in the country. The rainfall was ‘large excess’ in three, ‘excess’ in four, and ‘deficient’ in 11 subdivisions. • India’s vegetable oil imports rose 18% on year to 1.6 mln tn in June, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India said in a release today. The vegetable oil basket comprises edible and non-edible oils. Imports of vegetable oils consisted of 1.5 mln tn of edible oils and 23,178 tn of non-edible oils in June, the association said. In June, edible oil imports by India, the world’s largest importer of edible oils, fell slightly 2.6% on year to 10.1 mln tn. “The overall import of vegetable oils during the first eight months of the oil year (Nov-Jun) is reported at 10.2 mln tn compared to 10.5 mln tn during the same period of last year, which is down by 2%,” the association said. Imports of crude palm oil rose 37% on year to 637,897 tn in June, SEA said in the release. Refined, bleached and deodorised palmolein imports were down 33% last month to 145,237 tn in May. Imports of crude soyoil were down 37% at 275,700 tn. Imports of crude sunflower oil in June were at 465,647 tn compared with 190,785 tn a year ago. “Soft oils share increased marginally to 43% from 42% compared to last year, Nov-Jun (2022-23),” SEA said. The edible oil year runs from November to October. The edible oil import basket comprises crude and refined palm oils, crude soyoil, and sunflower oil. During Nov-Jun, India imported palm oil from Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Thailand, soyoil from Argentina, Brazil, Iraq, and Ukraine. Sunflower oil was imported from Russia, Romania, Ukraine and Argentina. Indonesia and Malaysia are also the major suppliers of refined, bleached and deodorised palmolein to India. As of Jul 1, the total stock of edible oil available was estimated at 2.6 mln tn, against 2.9 mln tn a year ago. Of the 2.6 mln tn, about 713,000 tn of edible oil was at ports and around 1.9 mln tn in the pipeline, the association said.
