MUMBAI India's palm and soybean oil imports surged to their highest levels in about a year in July, as refiners increased purchases following a price correction and in anticipation of a potential import duty hike, six dealers said on Friday.

Higher palm oil purchases by the world's biggest importer of vegetable oils will help reduce inventories in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia and support benchmark prices.

Palm oil imports surged 39% in July from the previous month to 1.09 million metric tonnes, the highest since August 2023, according to estimates from dealers.

The refining margin was positive for palm oil in May and June, during which most buyers placed orders for July shipments, said Rajesh Patel, managing partner at edible oil trader and broker GGN Research.

Soyoil imports in the month jumped 43% to 394,000 metric tonnes, the highest in 13 months, dealers said.

The imports also got a boost from expectations of a duty hike in the budget, which encouraged buyers to increase purchases, said Sandeep Bajoria, CEO of Sunvin Group, a vegetable oil brokerage.

Last week, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget for the 2024-25 financial year, although she didn't make any changes to the duty structure on edible oils.

India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while it imports soyoil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.

Sunflower oil imports fell 22% in July from the previous month's record shipments to 364,000 metric tonnes, dealers said.

A surge in imports of palm oil and soyoil lifted the country's total edible oil imports by 21% to 1.85 million tonnes, the second highest on record, as per dealers' estimate.

India on average has been importing 1.2 million tonnes of edible oil so far in the current marketing year, which began November 2023.

"The July imports could have been a record high, but berthing delays of eight to ten days at Kandla port prevented them from reaching that level," GGN Research's Patel said.

Industry body the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) is likely to publish its data on July imports by mid-August.