Malaysian palm oil stockpiles highest in three years
05/10/2022 (Free Malaysia Today), Petaling Jaya - Palm oil inventories in Malaysia likely climbed to their biggest in nearly three years after rising production in the world’s second-largest grower outpaced a recovery in export demand.
Stockpiles jumped about 8% in September from a month earlier to 2.26 million tons, according to the median of 10 estimates in a Bloomberg survey of analysts, traders and plantation executives.
That would be the fourth straight monthly increase, lifting reserves to their highest since October 2019.
Bulging inventories and accelerating production have overshadowed robust shipments from Malaysia, spurring the worst quarterly slump in prices since 2008 and providing some relief for world food inflation.
Mounting concerns that a global recession will curb edible oil demand are also pressuring futures, even as the weak ringgit makes the oil more attractive to price-sensitive buyers.
Malaysia’s production rose about 2.3% in September to a two-year high of 1.77 million tons, the survey showed, slowing from a 10% increase in August. Exports were seen jumping 7.7% to 1.40 million tons, the strongest since December.
Palm oil will remain volatile, said Sathia Varqa, owner of Palm Oil Analytics in Singapore. “Rising supplies and macro headwinds are stacked against favourable export conditions of low cash offers, palm’s wide discount to rival vegetable oils, the weak ringgit and declining freight rates,” he said.
Prices may swing between RM3,300 and RM3,700 a ton in October. Futures for December delivery traded at RM3,596 yesterday.
The survey also showed stockpile estimates range from 2.18 million to 2.38 million tons, while production ranged from 1.73 million to 1.78 million tons.
While export forecasts are from 1.32 million tons to 1.48 million tons, imports may fall to around 100,000 tons from 145,452 tons in August.
The local consumption estimates range from 230,000 to 300,000 tons.