06/04/2011 (Bloomberg) - Cooking oil imports by north African countries slowed in the first quarter because of high prices, Oil World said.

Imports into north Africa for the period probably totaled 766,000 metric tons, down 3.6 percent from the first quarter last year, Hamburg-based Oil World said in a report today. Their purchases of oils and fats in the marketing year that started Oct. 1 will fall for a second year to 3.1 million tons, it said.

“Near-record prices have taken their toll on consumption and import demand,” according to the report. “There has been a distinct shift of imports from sunflower oil to soya oil.”

Soyabean oil prices averaged 57.23 cents a pound in the first quarter on the Chicago Board of Trade, 48 percent higher than a year earlier.

Egpyt is the largest north African importer of oils and fats, followed by Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, according to the report. Their biggest import was soyabean oil at 350,000 tons, followed by palm oil and sunflower oil, Oil World said. Sunflower oil imports totaled 96,000 tons, less than half the 213,000 tons a year earlier, according to the report.

Sunflower oil prices may decline on increased South African production of sunflowers, boosting demand from north African countries, Oil World said.

“We expect that sunflower oil regains market share in north Africa in the further course of this season,” the company said. “The price competitiveness of sunflower oil has already improved in recent weeks, due to the larger than expected Argentine sunseed crop.”

Sunflower Seeds
The sunflower seed harvest in Argentina was 82 percent complete in the week ended March 24 versus 70 percent the prior year, and yields have been “well above” last year, Oil World said. Production will rise 31 percent to 3.4 million tons, according to the report. Sunflower seed processing accelerated in March, raising exportable oil and meal stockpiles.

Some soyabeans that were planted late in Argentina are at risk as frost may damage plants, Oil World said. The crop development is behind a year ago and harvesting was 7 percent complete on March 30, down from almost 14 percent a year earlier, according to the report, citing Bolsa de Cereales de Buenos Aires.

Argentina’s soyabean production may total 48.5 million tons, down 11 percent from a year ago, as yields may fall about 10 percent to 2.6 tons a hectare (2.47 acres) and planted area declined 1.1 percent to 18.4 million hectares, according to the report.

“We base our forecast on reports about poorer crop conditions than last year for both first- and second-crop soyabeans, primarily in parts of Cordoba and La Pampa,” Oil World said. “But also in a few areas of Entre Rios and Santa Fe soyabean crop conditions are considerably worse than a year ago.”