20110107 1447 Breaking News on Vegetable Oils.

Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -

- India, the biggest buyer of vegetable oils after China, plans to increase its oil-palm area more than sevenfold as it seeks ways to lower its cooking-fat import bill of $8.4 billion. Plantations may cover 1 million hectares (2.47 million acres) in the next five years, from 130,000 hectares now, Farm Secretary P.K. Basu said in an interview yesterday in New Delhi. “Strategies will be finalized by March for raising output of oilseeds, mainly oil palm,” Basu said. The planned increase in area will help the country augment its cooking-oil production by about 4 million metric tons, he said.