Cofeed News: till April 6th this week, edible palm oil at China’s ports has accumulated to 708,700 tonnes from 689,100 tonnes by 2.8% in stocks on the week, and meantime, the figure is 3.9% higher than 681,500 tonnes on a year-on-year basis with an increase of 27,200 tonnes; stocks of industrial palm oil are also down to 80,500 tonnes from 84,300 tonnes on the week, with a reduction of 3,800 tonnes by 4.5%. 

    Notably, price gap between soybean oil and palm oil domestically is now up to 800 yuan/tonne. Domestically, total sales of palm oil this week are only 4,100 tonnes, far lower than sales of soybean oil around 69,960 tonnes, and affected by delayed shipments, palm oil stockpiles rise further to 700,000 tonnes or above. According to Cofeed, China’s traders for the present have little interest in palm oil buying on account of little import margins in April, which may lead to relatively low palm oil arrivals then. Frankly speaking, imports of palm oil of 24-degree melting point have now totaled 180,000 tonnes or so, and its stocks are likely to edge lower in mid-to-late April if import margins remain unsatisfactory.

                      Figure: Comparison of domestic palm oil stocks in recent years

    Imports of palm oil are estimated to be around 0.41-0.43 Mln tonnes for March import (0.30-0.31 Mln tonnes of 24-degree palm oil, 0.10-0.13 Mln tonnes of industrial palm oil), basically unchanged from last week’s estimate; about 0.31 Mln tonnes for April imports (0.18 Mln tonnes of 24-degree palm oil, 0.13 Mln tonnes of industrial palm oil) and 0.43 Mln tonnes for May imports (0.30 Mln tonnes of 24-degree palm oil, 0.13 Mln tonnes of industrial palm oil), both unchanged from 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.