Freight to ship palm oil from the Americas is about $90 per ton, compared with $45 from Southeast Asia, said Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of Sunvin Group, a Mumbai-based brokerage.
Vessels will be loaded at South American ports in September to arrive at India’s Kandla port in October, said a New Delhi-based dealer.
Latin America exports half of its five million tons of palm oil, and India’s first purchases from the region could open the door to more supplies, said Aashish Acharya, vice president at Patanjali Foods, a leading importer of edible oils.