This week (as of Dec. 13), edible palm oil stock totals 713,300 tonnes at domestic ports, up 4.1% from 685,000 tonnes last week; up 62,500 tonnes or 9.6% from 650,800 tonnes the same period last month; up 270,100 tonnes or 60.9% from 443,200 tonnes the same period last year. Meanwhile, industrial palm oil stock at domestic ports totals 143,900 tonnes, up 40,600 tonnes or 39.3% from 103,300 tonnes last week.

As boatloads of palm oil arrive at ports intensively, palm oil inventory sees a rally this week, especially in East China. Besides, there are more purchases of cargoes of palm oil in December, and the import volume of RBD palm olein is around 530,000-550,000 tonnes. Moreover, the price spread between soybean oil and palm oil continue to narrow. As of this Friday, the price spread is 625 yuan/tonne, narrowing further by 90 yuan/tonne from 715 yuan/tonne last week, which affects 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 turnover of palm oil has improved but still stays at a low level as a whole, and that totals 13,900 tonnes, up by 7,200 tonnes or 107.5% from 6,700 tonnes last week. As the import volume will exceed demand, domestic palm oil stock is predicted to go up in the second half of December.

Region /Port	Edible Palm Oil Stocks（0'000 mT）					Industrial Palm Oil Stocks
	W50	W49	Change	M-O-M	Y-O-Y	W50	W49	Change
Tianjin Port	7.25	7.7	-0.45	31.80%	-30.30%	2.1	2.2	-0.1
Hebei	0.3	0.41	-0.11	-65.90%	-40.00%	0.18	0.09	0.09
Shandong Port	4.57	5.5	-0.93	-5.20%	107.70%	1.55	1.8	-0.25
East China	29.83	26.3	3.53	34.10%	165.10%	7.65	3.8	3.85
Guangdong	25.23	24.25	0.98	-4.10%	88.80%	2.65	2.1	0.55
Guangxi	2.4	3.09	-0.69	26.30%	33.30%	0.26	0.34	-0.08
Fujian	1.75	1.25	0.5	-48.50%	-53.90%	0	0	0
Total：	71.33	68.5	2.83	9.60%	60.90%	14.39	10.33	4.06

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 650,000-670,000 tonnes, which is slightly changeable with last week (RBD palm olein 530,000-550,000 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).