Importing by oil type is defined by the opposite concept of exporting. That is, exporting is limited to certain countries that are blessed with a supply of raw materials. Conversely, oil is imported by numerous countries, including countries that lack sufficient expression facilities and countries where it is difficult to import large amounts of seeds due to their inland location. Consequently, there is not the same amount of discrepancy towards particular countries and regions as observed in seed importing. Even so, the core of the import market is composed of certain countries and regions.

The import market for vegetable oil is mainly composed of three regions: the EU, China, and India. Figure 8 shows the import ratio for main types of oil by country/region in 2001-2002 and 2021-2022.

Figure 8: Changes in vegetable oil import ratio by country/region(Inner circle: 2001-2002; Outer circle: 2021-2022)

Source: Same as Figure 1

There has not been any significant change to the structure in which the EU, China, India, and America account for approximately half of the world's vegetable oil imports. However, it should be noted that China's share is increasing. We have already discussed how China produces a wide variety of oilseeds and how it imports more than half of the world's traded oilseeds. In order to satisfy domestic demand for oil, China also imports a large amount of oil.

On the other hand, India, another country with a huge population, does not import oilseeds due to policies for self-sufficiency. India supplements its lack of supply for oil by importing palm oil. When examining the condition of domestic oil self-sufficiency and the expression industry, India ensures oil self-sufficiency by adjusting oil taxes in order to adjust the import amount.