France, May 8 -- Indians have been rationing cooking oil amid the rising cost of Ukrainian and Russian products and export curbs by Indonesia. The world's second-largest consumer market is now switching to cheaper products to keep kitchens running.

Indonesia on 28 April banned the export of palm oil to clamp down on rising domestic prices. The move held up 300,000 tonnes of scheduled supplies to India.

Curry-loving India annually buys 13.5 million tonnes of cooking oil from seven countries.Of that, 63 percent is the hugely popular palm oil, imported largely from Indonesia and Malaysia.Sizzling prices

Market watchers say prices rose at least 70 percent in the past 12 months, and are likely to burn out family budgets later this summer. ...