This week (as of Dec. 6), edible palm oil stock totals 685,000 tonnes at domestic ports, down 1.3% from 694,000 tonnes last week; up 74,500 tonnes or 12.2% from 610,500 tonnes the same period last month; up 232,800 tonnes or 51.5% from 452,200 tonnes the same period last year. Meanwhile, industrial palm oil stock at domestic ports totals 103,300 tonnes, down 16,000 tonnes or 13.4% from 119,300 tonnes last week.

This week, edible palm oil stock stops rising and starts falling as there are not many boatloads arriving at ports. According to Cofeed, the import volume of RBD palm olein is around 500,000-550,000 tonnes in December. But due to the steep rally in palm oil recently, the price rises of palm oil have surpassed soybean oil. And the price gap between soybean oil and palm oil keeps narrowing. As of this Friday, the price gap is 715 yuan/tonne, narrowing by 130 yuan/tonne from 845 yuan/tonne last week, which effects the downstream consumption of palm oil. In addition, the usage volume for palm oil as blending oil will be restricted with the temperature decreasing. This week, the trading volume turns light as a whole and totals 6,700 tonnes, down by 22,400 tonnes or 76.97% from 29,100 tonnes last week. As the import volume will exceed demand, domestic palm oil stock is predicted to go up in the late period.

Region /Port	Edible Palm Oil Stocks（0'000 mT）					Industrial Palm Oil Stocks
	W49	W48	Change	M-O-M	Y-O-Y	W49	W48	Change
Tianjin Port	7.7	7.4	0.3	35.10%	-18.90%	2.2	3	-0.8
Hebei	0.41	0.54	-0.13	0.60%	-48.70%	0.09	0.13	-0.04
Shandong Port	5.5	5.85	-0.35	30.60%	129.20%	1.8	1.8	0
East China	26.3	26.35	-0.05	50.70%	122.90%	3.8	4.55	-0.75
Guangdong	24.25	24.75	-0.5	-9.20%	58.80%	2.1	2.2	-0.1
Guangxi	3.09	2.41	0.68	32.05%	106.00%	0.34	0.25	0.09
Fujian	1.25	2.1	-0.85	-71.60%	-68.30%	0	0	0
Total：	68.5	69.4	-0.9	12.20%	51.50%	10.33	11.93	-1.6

Fig.: China's palm oil stocks in recent years

According to the latest statistics by Cofeed, the estimate of import volume for December this week is 620,000-670,000 tonnes, which is slightly changeable with last week (RBD palm olein 500,000-550,000 and industrial palm oil 120,000 tonnes). And the estimate for January remains flat at 420,000 tonnes compared with last week (RBD palm olein 300,000 and industrial palm oil 120,000 tonnes); the estimate for February is 350,000 tonnes (RBD palm olein 230,000 tonnes and industrial palm oil 120,000 tonnes).