Cofeed News: till January 5th this week, edible palm oil at China’s ports are seen increasing to 639,600 tonnes by 6.2% from 602,200 tonnes last week in stocks, and the figure is up 26.8% from 504,300 tonnes corresponding period the previous month with an increase of 135,300 tonnes; while stocks of industrial palm oil have lessened to 92,200 tonnes by 2.1% from last week’s 94,200 tonnes, with a reduction of 2,000 tonnes. Generally, domestic stocks of palm oil continue to pile up, especially in Fujian and South China. As of January 5th, price gap between soybean oil and palm oil spots are seen at 418 yuan/tonne, 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’ preference for soybean oil. 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 demand now is quite general.

               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); roughly 0.38-0.45 Mln tonnes for January import in 2018 (0.26-0.33 Mln tonnes of 24-degree palm oil, 0.12 Mln tonnes of industrial palm oil); 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), all remaining unchanged when compared with estimates last week. Arrivals of palm oil may change with the market and shipping schedule, therefore information will be updated according to latest shipments and possible defaults.