Cofeed News: till December 29th this week, edible palm oil at China’s ports are seen increasing to 602,200 tonnes by 1.4% from 593,700 tonnes last week in stocks, and the figure is up 21.33% from 496,300 tonnes corresponding period the previous month with an increase of 105,900 tonnes; while stocks of industrial palm oil have climbed to 94,200 tonnes by 2.7% from last week’s 91,700 tonnes, with a rise of 2,500 tonnes. Generally, domestic stocks of palm oil pile up anew due to increasing arrivals at ports. As of December 29th, price gap between soybean oil and palm oil spots are seen at 400 yuan/tonne, while in normal level, only when the gap reaches 800 yuan/tonne or above can palm oil get the support from market demand. In this case, the price difference between beans and palm is still unreasonable, meanwhile with increasingly convenient takeout and improved life quality, sales of instant noodles have been significantly decreasing, consequently, edible palm oil, an important ingredient for instant noodles, now show light turnover in market amid buyers cautiousness in buying. In general, January import of palm oil of 24-degree melting point is now revised up to 0.26-0.33 Mln tonnes, accordingly, palm oil has larger possibility to pile up as port arrivals are far greater than consumption.

                  Figure: Comparison of domestic palm oil stocks in recent years (unit: 10,000 tonnes)

    Imports of palm oil are estimated to be around 0.52-0.57 Mln tonnes in December (0.4-0.41 Mln tonnes of 24-degree palm oil, 0.12-0.16 Mln tonnes of industrial palm oil), down 20,000 tonnes than estimates in last week; roughly 0.4-0.45 Mln tonnes for January import in 2018 (0.28-0.33 Mln tonnes of 24-degree palm oil, 0.12 Mln tonnes of industrial palm oil), up 30,000 tonnes over last week; about 0.27 Mln tonnes for February import in 2018 (0.14 Mln tonnes of 24-degree palm oil, 0.13 Mln tonnes of industrial palm oil). Arrivals of palm oil may change with the market and shipping schedule, therefore information will be updated according to latest shipments and possible defaults.