14/12/2016 (The Star) - Palm oil shipments from Indonesia surged the most since October 2014 after buyers replenished stockpiles to meet rising demand during Christmas and New Year.

Exports of palm and kernel oils jumped 39% to 2.41 million tonnes in October from 1.73 million tonnes in September, according to data from the Indonesian Palm Oil Association released on Tuesday.

That’s the highest since December and compares with the median estimate of 2.14 million tonnes in a Bloomberg survey published last month.

The commodity used in everything from biscuits to biodiesel has surged 23% this year after one of the strongest El Nino events on record stressed trees and cut inventories in top growers Indonesia and Malaysia.

The slower-than-expected recovery in Malaysian production prompted veteran industry analyst Dorab Mistry last month raise forecasts for first-quarter prices to as high as RM3,300 a tonne.

Traders boosted purchases on expectation that prices will rally as demand normally rises ahead of Christmas and New Year, the association, known as Gapki, said in a statement.

Total exports that include biodiesel surged 34% to 2.54 million tonnes, Gapki said.

Production in October rose to 3.55 million tonnes from 3.33 million tonnes a month earlier, Gapki said. Stockpiles climbed to 2.18 million tonnes from 2.17 million tonnes, while domestic consumption rose to 1 million tonnes from 966,000 tonnes in September, it said.

Palm oil futures for delivery in February fell 0.4% to RM3,058 a tonne by the midday break at the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives on Tuesday. Futures rose 11% in November, rallying for a fourth straight months. – Bloomberg