India's palm oil imports slid to their lowest level in five years during the 2024/25 marketing year, while purchases of soyoil soared to a record high as a widening price premium made palm oil less attractive to buyers, a leading industry body said on Thursday.

Lower palm oil imports by India, the world's biggest buyer of vegetable oils, could boost inventories in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia and pressure benchmark Malaysian palm oil futures.

Palm oil imports in the 2024/25 marketing year ended in October fell 15.9% from a year ago to 7.58 million metric tons, the lowest since 2019/20, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India said in a statement.

Soyoil imports in the year jumped 59% to a record 5.47 million tons, while sunflower oil purchases fell 16.3% to 2.9 million tons,

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