24/05/2011 (Bloomberg) - China’s palm oil imports, the world’s second-biggest, rose to the highest level this year in April as warmer weather boosted demand for the cooking oil.

Imports last month jumped 38 percent from March to 453,089 metric tons, according to data released today by the General Administration of Customs.

“Imports generally rise starting in April each year through the summer, and some of the shipments were bought” before the current weak demand in the cooking oil market, according to Cao Yanhui, analyst at Guoxin Futures Co. As warmer summer weather makes palm oil flow easier, its use increases, so the gain in shipments is seasonal, Cao said by phone from Dalian. Still, shipments declined 14.8 percent from a year ago, customs data show.

China has imposed a price-freeze on cooking oils and tightened lending to tame inflation, which last month neared the highest in more than two years. Palm oil futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange has lost 6.7 percent this year, while the commodity in Malaysia declined 11 percent.

The price controls imposed on companies including Cofco Ltd. and Wilmar International Ltd., combined with adequate supply of cooking oils already in the domestic market, have made importing vegetable oils unprofitable, Cao said. China’s imports in the first four months plunged 24 percent from a year ago to 1.5 million tons, customs data show.

On the Dalian bourse, palm oil for January delivery fell 0.6 percent to 9,128 yuan ($1,404) a ton, while soybean oil declined 0.3 percent to 10,124 yuan.