MARKET DEVELOPMENT
UPDATE 2-India's Palm Oil Imports Up in March, Snap Two-month Drop
UPDATE 2-India's Palm Oil Imports Up in March, Snap Two-month Drop
16/04/2014 (Reuters) - India's palm oil imports rose 35 percent in March, snapping two straight months of declines as buyers built stocks after overseas purchases hit a near three-year low in February, data from the Solvent Extractors' Association showed on Tuesday.
Higher purchases by the world's top palm oil buyer should support benchmark Malaysian futures which fell 6 percent last month. Prices should get a further boost as demand perks up ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that will be celebrated in the middle of the year.
India's palm oil imports rose to 545,875 tonnes in March, from 403,685 tonnes in February when higher prices and hopes for improving local supplies of rival rapeseed oil kept buyers away.
Palm oil imports could climb to around 650,000 tonnes in May as demand builds up before Ramadan, Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of Mumbai-based brokerage Sunvin Group.
Consumption of the edible oil usually rises during the holy month as Muslims gather for communal feasts to break their fast.
India buys palm oil mainly from the world's leading sellers, Indonesia and Malaysia. It also buys small quantities of soyoil from Latin America and sunflower from Ukraine and Russia.
Half of India's annual demand of 17-18 million tonnes of cooking oil is met through imports of palm oil, while the nation also buys around 1 million tonne each of soy and sunflower oil.
Soyoil imports almost doubled to 189,150 tonnes in March as its premium to rival palm oil shrank.
Traders said the soy-palm spread narrowed in March to $40-$50 a tonne from $60-$70 in the previous month, adding that soyoil imports would rise through May on higher demand for fried foods during the marriage season which starts from mid-April.
Last month, imported palm oil was quoted at $938-$951 per tonne against $1,000 of soyoil and $974 of sunflower oil, according to the SEA data.
India's sunflower imports rose 69 percent to 97,900 tonnes last month, helped, according to traders, by the arrival of some cargoes from Ukraine that had been delayed due to political tensions there.
Total edible oil imports by India rose 46 percent from a month ago to 832,925 tonnes in March, the data showed.
Higher purchases by the world's top palm oil buyer should support benchmark Malaysian futures which fell 6 percent last month. Prices should get a further boost as demand perks up ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that will be celebrated in the middle of the year.
India's palm oil imports rose to 545,875 tonnes in March, from 403,685 tonnes in February when higher prices and hopes for improving local supplies of rival rapeseed oil kept buyers away.
Palm oil imports could climb to around 650,000 tonnes in May as demand builds up before Ramadan, Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of Mumbai-based brokerage Sunvin Group.
Consumption of the edible oil usually rises during the holy month as Muslims gather for communal feasts to break their fast.
India buys palm oil mainly from the world's leading sellers, Indonesia and Malaysia. It also buys small quantities of soyoil from Latin America and sunflower from Ukraine and Russia.
Half of India's annual demand of 17-18 million tonnes of cooking oil is met through imports of palm oil, while the nation also buys around 1 million tonne each of soy and sunflower oil.
Soyoil imports almost doubled to 189,150 tonnes in March as its premium to rival palm oil shrank.
Traders said the soy-palm spread narrowed in March to $40-$50 a tonne from $60-$70 in the previous month, adding that soyoil imports would rise through May on higher demand for fried foods during the marriage season which starts from mid-April.
Last month, imported palm oil was quoted at $938-$951 per tonne against $1,000 of soyoil and $974 of sunflower oil, according to the SEA data.
India's sunflower imports rose 69 percent to 97,900 tonnes last month, helped, according to traders, by the arrival of some cargoes from Ukraine that had been delayed due to political tensions there.
Total edible oil imports by India rose 46 percent from a month ago to 832,925 tonnes in March, the data showed.