India-bound sunflower oil cargoes face cancellation, delays as war disrupts Russian shipments

Business Recorder, citing a Reuters report, said a 20,000-ton Russian sunflower oil shipment bound for India has been cancelled after the supplier could not deliver it. The supplier's problem stemmed from harm to harbour facilities around the Black Sea. Sandeep Bajoria, who heads the International Sunflower Oil Association, said such cancellations are uncommon in the trade.

Russian sellers are now looking to ship sunflower oil from the Baltic, via St Petersburg and Ust-Luga, since Black Sea shipments have become harder. Bajoria said the switch means higher freight costs and roughly 10 extra days at sea. About 60,000 tons of sunflower oil meant for India has also been held up by the conflict.

India has turned to palm oil as sunflower stocks ran low after weak imports in recent months, buying roughly 150,000 tons of crude palm oil over three days this week for delivery in November and December. Such buying could help cut stocks in Indonesia and Malaysia, the leading producers, and support Malaysian palm oil futures.