Indian Edible Oil Industry
The Indian vegetable oil economy is the world’s fourth largest after the US, China and Brazil, harvesting about 25 million tons of oilseeds against the world. Since 1995, Indian share in world production of oilseeds has been around 10 percent. Although, India is a major producer of oilseeds, per capita oil consumption in India is only 10.6 kg/annum which is low compared to 12.5 kg/annum in China, 20.8 kg/annum in Japan, 21.3 kg/annum in Brazil and 48.0 kg/annum in USA. Vegetable oil consumption has increased following a rise in household incomes and consumer demand. India imports half of its edible oil requirement, making it the world’s third-largest importer of edible oil. The country buys soya oil from Argentina & Brazil and palm oil from Malaysia & Indonesia. Currently, India accounts for 11.2 per cent of vegetable oil import and 9.3 per cent of edible oil consumption. Types of Oils commonly in use in India: India has a wide range of oilseeds crops grown in its different agro climatic zones. Groundnut, mustard/rapeseed, sesame, safflower, linseed, nigerseed / castorseed are the major traditionally cultivated oilseeds. Soyabean and sunflower have also assumed importance in recent years. Groundnut, soyabean and mustard together contribute about 85 percent of the country’s oilseeds production. Coconut is most important amongst the plantation crops. Efforts are being made to grow oil palm in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu in addition to Kerala and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Among the non-conventional oils, ricebran oil and cottonseed oil are the most important. In addition, oilseeds of tree and forest origin, which grow mostly in tribal inhabited areas, are also a significant source of oils. Until 2002, the olive oil sector in India was predominantly unorganised. The olive oil industry in India is small and largely people use it more for cosmetic purposes than for cooking .