Cofeed News: till April 20th this week, edible palm oil at China’s ports plummet by 5.6% to 693,000 tonnes from 733,800 tonnes last week, and meantime, but it is 8.2% higher than 640,300 tonnes on a year-on-year basis with an increase of 52,700 tonnes; by striking contrast, stocks of industrial palm oil are still down by 7.8% to 69,200 tonnes from 75,050 tonnes on the week.

    Till Friday, price gap between soybean oil and palm oil domestically is pegged at 638 yuan/tonne, and seemingly, sales upon lower prices at home turn good in recent two weeks due to buyers’ active engagement in market. Total turnover of palm oil this week is around 26,400 tonnes, higher than 23,700 tonnes last week. According to Cofeed, palm oil shipments in late April is not many due to unsatisfactory import margins, which thereby puts down its stockpiles this week. By and large, stockpiles later largely trend up for new shipments in May and June are under way.

                             Figure: Comparison of domestic palm oil stocks in recent years

    Imports of palm oil are estimated to be around 0.38-0.39 Mln tonnes for April delivery (0.25-0.26 Mln tonnes of 24-degree palm oil, 0.13 Mln tonnes of industrial palm oil), unchanged from last estimates, and 0.43 Mln tonnes for May delivery (0.30 Mln tonnes of 24-degree palm oil, 0.13 Mln tonnes of industrial palm oil), 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.