Last updated: 16 September 2026
> Quick Answer: One litre of mustard oil weighs about 910 grams, or roughly 0.91 kg. The Codex Alimentarius standard puts mustardseed oil at a relative density of 0.910 to 0.921 at 20°C, which works out to 908 to 919 grams per litre. Going the other way, 1 kg is about 1.09 litres.
Since a litre is a unit of volume and a kilogram is a unit of mass, one needs one more element to convert: the density of the specific substance. In the case of mustard oil, the density is close to 0.91, which means that a litre of mustard oil weighs roughly 90 grams less than a kilogram.
What conversion tables do not mention is temperature. Density is always given at a certain temperature and changes when the oil gets heated. This, again, is why two reliable publications give different densities for one type of oil.
Why does a litre of mustard oil weigh less than a litre of water?
Mustard oil is lighter than water because its molecules cannot pack as tightly. Water is a small molecule that hydrogen bonds into a dense network at roughly 1 gram per millilitre. Oil is made of triglycerides, large molecules whose three long hydrocarbon chains take up more room per unit of mass.
The result is a density under 1, which is also why oil floats on water. Every common edible oil behaves this way. In the Codex tables sunflower sits at 0.918 to 0.923 and groundnut at 0.912 to 0.920, both at 20°C. No cooking oil converts one litre to one kilogram.
What do the published density figures for mustard oil say?
Mustardseed oil has a relative density of 0.910 to 0.921, measured at 20°C against water at 20°C, or 908 to 919 grams per litre. That band is the reference figure, published in the Codex Alimentarius Standard for Named Vegetable Oils, CXS 210-1999. The conversion is direct because water at 20°C is very close to 1 gram per millilitre.
Two independent sources land in the same place. USDA FoodData Central records one cup of mustard oil at 218 grams under record 172337. A US cup is either 236.6 or 240 millilitres, and those two divisions give 0.921 and 0.908 grams per millilitre, bracketing the Codex band almost exactly.
The third check is a measurement rather than a table. Annex A of ISO 6883, reproduced in full as East African Standard EAS 316:2002, reports a FOSFA International trial on crude rapeseed oil in which 62 laboratories returned results and 51 were accepted, with a mean of 0.9054 grams per millilitre.
Indian regulation treats rapeseed and mustard as one category. That mean sits 3 grams per litre under the Codex floor, roughly what four degrees of extra warmth would account for.
How many litres is 1 kg of mustard oil?
One kilogram of mustard oil is about 1.09 litres, and the full Codex band runs 1.088 to 1.101 litres. This is the conversion people need when a rate is quoted per kilogram but the shop sells sealed litre packs, which is the normal situation in Indian retail.
The mathematics indicates the reverse of the density calculation. Divide the mass in grams by the density in grams/millilitre to get the number of millilitres. Therefore, 5 kg would be equal to 5.44 - 5.50 litres while 15 kg would be approximately equal to 16.3 - 16.5 litres.
Does temperature change what a litre of mustard oil weighs?
Yes, and the direction is always the same: warmer oil expands, so a litre of it holds less mass. ISO 6883, the international method for converting oil volume to mass, uses a mean correction of 0.00068 grams per millilitre for every degree Celsius. That is about 0.7 grams per litre per degree.
Scaled up, a litre loses roughly 7 grams for every 10 degrees of warming. Oil that weighed 914 grams at 20°C would be near 904 grams at 35°C. The standard cautions that this correction is meant for gaps of no more than 5 degrees, so a 15 degree extrapolation is an estimate, not a measurement.
None of this affects what you are sold. Sealed packs are filled and declared to a stated quantity, and the label is the reference. The temperature effect matters in bulk trade, where oil moves in tankers and is weighed at whatever temperature it happens to be.
Why is the tin sold in litres when the rate is quoted per kilogram?
Because the supply chain changes units at every stage.
- Mandis trade seed by the quintal, a unit of 100 kilograms.
- Bulk oil moves by weight, so the rate is quoted per kilogram.
- Retail packs are filled by volume, so the shelf shows litres.
The buyer sits at the join between two systems.
Indian law now closes part of that gap. With the adoption of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Amendment Rules 2023, as notified on G.S.R. 722(E) on 6 October 2023, the Fourth Schedule entry on edible oil, vanaspati ghee and butter oil now reads "weight or volume and if the net quantity is declared by volume, the net quantity shall also be declared by weight". It took effect on 1 January 2024.
This means that an oil pack which is sold in litres has to print its equivalent weight. When the bottle has litre and gram figure, the law has been correctly complied with, and it is not a printer's error.
What do 1L, 2L and 5L packs weigh in kg?
Applying the Codex band to the pack sizes SatRas sells gives the table below. The three SatRas mustard oils publish different fat profiles, and composition does influence density, but no separate density measurement exists for any of them, so one conversion covers all three.
| Pack size | Weight in grams | Weight in kg |
|---|---|---|
| 500 ml | 454 to 460 g | 0.45 to 0.46 kg |
| 1 litre | 908 to 919 g | 0.91 to 0.92 kg |
| 2 litres | 1,817 to 1,839 g | 1.82 to 1.84 kg |
| 5 litres | 4,542 to 4,597 g | 4.54 to 4.60 kg |
There is a use for this beyond checking a label. The ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition's Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024 states visible fat in grams, advising that cooking oil be limited to 20 to 50 g per person per day depending on energy needs, and not more than 27 to 30 g for a 2000 kcal diet.
A one litre pack holds about 914 grams, so at 30 g a day it is roughly a month for one adult. This is educational information, not medical advice.
The black oil is available in all sizes, while the yellow oil and the high oleic oil can be accessed on the 1L page. There is a separate pricing section on the what mustard oil should cost in India page.
What these density figures do not settle
India's own standard does not fix a density at all. The FSSAI Food Product Standards for fats, oils and fat emulsions define mustard oil by refractive index at 40°C of 1.4646 to 1.4662, saponification value 168 to 177, iodine value 96 to 112 and acid value not more than 6.0, plus negative tests for argemone oil and hydrocyanic acid. There is no density or specific gravity limit in the entry.
The same standard allows a kachi ghani or cold pressed label when natural allyl isothiocyanate is not less than 0.20 per cent by weight.
Measurement spread is real too. ISO 6883 sets a reproducibility limit of 0.007 grams per millilitre, so two laboratories testing the same oil by the same method may legitimately differ by 7 grams per litre. Within one laboratory the limit is far tighter at 0.0002.
Treat 908 to 919 grams as a working band, not a guaranteed figure for a specific bottle. If a precise number matters, weigh the oil rather than converting it.
Frequently asked questions
How many grams are in 500 ml of mustard oil?
About 454 to 460 grams, or roughly 455 g. The calculation is half the litre figure, since density does not change with the quantity you measure. Half litre packs are a common retail size, and the same 0.91 multiplier applies to any volume you want to convert into grams.
Does mustard oil weigh the same as sunflower oil?
Not quite. Codex Alimentarius lists sunflower oil at a relative density of 0.918 to 0.923 against 0.910 to 0.921 for mustardseed oil, both at 20°C. Sunflower is therefore slightly heavier per litre, by a few grams. The two bands overlap, so the difference is too small to detect on a kitchen scale.
Is the net weight on an Indian oil pack the oil alone or the full bottle?
The oil alone. Net quantity under packaging law refers to the contents, excluding the bottle, cap, label and any carton. The gross weight, which is what you would read if you put the sealed pack on a scale, will be higher by the weight of the packaging itself.
How do I weigh mustard oil accurately with a kitchen scale?
- Place the empty container on the scale.
- Zero the scale, which removes the container weight without arithmetic.
- Pour in the oil and read the mass.
Weighing beats converting whenever accuracy matters, because it sidesteps both the density range and the temperature correction that a calculation has to assume.
Does cold pressed mustard oil weigh more than refined mustard oil?
No published side by side measurement separating the two could be located. Refining removes free fatty acids and minor components, which can shift density slightly, but any difference would sit in the third decimal place. For practical conversion, use the same figure for both.
Why do some conversion charts say 1 litre of mustard oil is 1 kg?
Because they are treating oil as if it were water, where 1 litre does weigh about 1 kg. Oil is less dense, so the shortcut overstates the weight by roughly 90 grams per litre. On a 5 litre tin that error compounds to around 400 grams, which is enough to matter in a bulk purchase.
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