This week (as of Dec. 20), edible palm oil stock totals 725,300 tonnes at domestic ports, up 1.7% from 713,300 tonnes last week; up 46,700 tonnes or 6.9% from 678,600 tonnes the same period last month; up 302,100 tonnes or 71.4% from 423,200 tonnes the same period last year. Meanwhile, industrial palm oil stock at domestic ports totals 143,200 tonnes, down 700 tonnes or 0.5% from 143,900 tonnes last week.

This week, the price spread between soybean oil and palm oil still remains at a lower level of 625 yuan/tonne (normally over 1,000 yuan/tonne in winter). And the overall consumption of palm oil is curbed by decreasing temperature, so there is not much trading volume of spot palm. But there are boatloads of palm oil arriving at ports excessively this week, leading to a further rally in palm oil stock. Meanwile, the import volume of RBD palm olein is around 550,000 tonnes in December. As the import volume exceeds demand, domestic palm oil stock is more likely to go up next week. Nevertheless, palm oil stock in January may be falling due to the unprofitable import and less purchase of cargoes.

Region /Port	Edible Palm Oil Stocks（0'000 mT）					Industrial Palm Oil Stocks
	W51	W50	Change	M-O-M	Y-O-Y	W51	W50	Change
Tianjin Port	6.65	7.25	-0.6	3.90%	-33.83%	2.2	2.1	0.1
Hebei	0.7	0.3	0.4	0.00%	16.60%	0.2	0.18	0.02
Shandong Port	3.85	4.57	-0.72	-29.50%	98.40%	1.33	1.55	-0.22
East China	30.37	29.83	0.54	14.40%	199.80%	7.7	7.65	0.05
Guangdong	26.4	25.23	1.17	7.00%	88.90%	2.6	2.65	-0.05
Guangxi	2.11	2.4	-0.29	36.10%	-13.20%	0.29	0.26	0.03
Fujian	2.45	1.75	0.7	-3.90%	-23.40%	0	0	0
Total：	72.53	71.33	1.2	6.90%	71.40%	14.32	14.39	-0.07

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 unchanged from last week (RBD palm olein 530,000-550,000 and industrial palm oil 120,000 tonnes). And the estimate for January is 320,000 tonnes, down by 100,000 tonnes from last week (RBD palm olein 200,000 and industrial palm oil 120,000 tonnes); the estimate for February keeps steady at 350,000 tonnes from last week (RBD palm olein 230,000 tonnes and industrial palm oil 120,000 tonnes).