By Rajendra Jadhav

MUMBAI, Feb 3 (Reuters) - India's palm oil imports surged 51% in January to a four-month high, as the tropical oil's discount to rival soyoil prompted refiners to ramp up purchases while cutting soyoil imports to a 19-month low, according to five dealers.

Higher palm oil imports by India, the world's largest buyer of vegetable oils, could help reduce inventories in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia, supporting benchmark Malaysian palm oil futures FCPOc3, while pressuring U.S. soyoil futures Boc2.

Palm oil imports jumped to 766,000 metric tons last month - the highest since October 2025 - from 507,204 metric tons in December, according to dealer estimates.

Meanwhile, soyoil imports slumped 45% to 280,000 tons, the lowest since June 2024, and sunflower oil imports fell 23% to 269,000 tons, according to the estimates.

India's total edible oil imports in January fell 3.5% from a month earlier to 1.32 million tons due to lower imports of soyoil and sunflower oil, the estimates showed.

The estimates exclude duty-free shipments that arrived via land borders from Nepal, the dealers said.

India imported an average of about 632,000 tons of palm oil each month during the marketing year that ended in October 2025, said the Solvent Extractors' Association of India. The group is set to publish its January import data by mid-February.

Palm oil has been trading at a discount of more than $100 per tonne to soyoil, encouraging Indian buyers to step up purchases and scale back soyoil buying, said Rajesh Patel, managing partner at edible oil trader GGN Research at Rajkot, Gujarat.

India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, and imports soyoil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.

Palm oil imports are expected to rise further in February, with soyoil and sunflower oil imports remaining under pressure, said Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of Sunvin Group, a vegetable oil brokerage and consultancy firm.

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Eileen Soreng)

((rajendra.jadhav@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: x.com/Rajendra1857))