India Makes Record U.S. Soyoil Purchases

Indian traders have contracted to import a record 100,000 tonnes of soyoil from the U.S. because of limited supplies from drought-hit South America, at a time when prices of rival palm oil are scaling record highs, three dealers toldReuters.

The higher purchases from the U.S. are expected to support U.S. soy oil prices , which have climbed nearly 20% this year to close to their highest in a decade, fueling worries about food inflation.

The world's biggest edible oil importer traditionally buys soyoil from Argentina and Brazil, but lower bean output in these two leading exporters of the commodity forced New Delhi to turn to the U.S. they said.