Soyoil futures climbed in step with the rest of the complex, underpinned by the rise in crushing margins and solid export demand. However, soyoil continued to lose ground to soymeal on spreads. December soyoil settled 0.47 cent, or 1.2%, higher at 39.37 cents per pound.
Pakistan Ups Palm Oil Purchases As Ramadan Looms.(Source:CME)
Pakistan has bought up to 225,000 metric tons of palm oil in July as demand rises in preparation for Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, an industry official said Thursday.
"We may see a record shipment of palm oil this month for the Ramadan period, between 200,000 and 225,000 tons. In fact the imports are slightly more than the requirement" for the month, Rasheed Janmohammad, vice-chairman of the Pakistan Edible Oil Refiners Association said.
Pakistan is the largest buyer of palm oil in the world after India and China, purchasing an average of 80,000-125,000 tons a month.
According to cargo surveyor SGS (Malaysia) Bhd., Pakistan imported 140,696 tons for the first 15 days of July.
Ramadan, which this year runs from approximately Aug. 11 to Sept. 9, is generally a period of heavier demand.
"We expect August to be a heavy buying month as well, with palm oil imports likely to reach 150,000 tons," Janmohammad told Dow Jones Newswires by telephone from Karachi. Only 20%-30% of the required amount for August has been purchased so far, he said.
Pakistani imports of crude and refined palm products for calendar year 2010 will reach 1.85 million tons, up 3% from 1.79 million tons last year, Janmohammad said.
Purchases of refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) palm olein will continue to dominate Pakistan's total palm oil imports in 2010, he said.
Pakistan relies heavily on imports to supply its edible oil consumption of 3 million tons a year, as it produces only some 800,000 tons of oil a year from sunflowers, rapeseeds and cottonseeds.
Purchases of palm oil should decline in the September-October period, when cottonseed oil begins arriving, PEORA's Janmohammad said.
Prices of crude palm oil, or CPO, are expected to decline due to a seasonal increase in palm oil supply during the July-September quarter, but rising festive demand from the Middle East as well as the Indian subcontinent may lead to a drawdown in palm inventories, boosting prices.
Traders said Pakistan's CPO imports may rise after the government said in its federal budget last month that it would reduce import duties on the commodity to PKR8,000/ton ($94) from PKR9,000/ton, beginning July 1.
Based on SGS data, CPO imports to Pakistan increased nearly three-fold in the first half of July, to 25,200 tons, compared with only 9,000 tons for the same period in June.
Janmohammad said the country's CPO imports may "improve but not exorbitantly, as it's still difficult for refiners to make good margins."
That's because the narrow price differential between CPO and RBD palm oil makes it cheaper to import the latter, rather than shipping in CPO and then refining it locally.
Pakistan sources around 95% of its palm oil from Malaysia and the remainder from Indonesia. But in the last few years, Pakistan has bought more CPO from Indonesia due to a Malaysian quota on CPO exports designed to encourage sales of higher-value refined palm products.
Palm hit above 3-week high on strong demand, soy
JAKARTA, July 15 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil rose to a more than three-week high at midday , supported by gains in soybean markets and strong demand ahead of the start of Ramadan in August.
"We are moving in to Ramadan next month which will push up demand from Muslim countries," a trader at a foreign-brokerage firm said. "Soybean also gained which also supports the market."
India's June vegoil imports fall sixth straight mth
NEW DELHI, July 14 (Reuters) - India's vegetable oil imports fell an annual 6 percent in June, dropping for the six straight month but not as sharply as market expectations as farmers held back oilseed sales anticipating higher prices later.
Traders in the world's biggest importer of edible oils had expected an 18 percent fall in the overseas purchases of vegetable oils in June.
Food firms slow on green palm oil pledge-processor
AMSTERDAM, July 14 (Reuters) - More food makers should commit to only using palm oil that is certified as sustainable to help raise environmental standards in the industry, the head of palm oil processor Loders Croklaan Europe said on Wednesday.
Some food groups such as Unilever and Nestle have made pledges to gradually switch to sourcing all palm oil from sustainably certified sources, but many other manufacturers and retailers are yet to follow.
India to step up Argentine soyoil imports
BUENOS AIRES, July 14 (Reuters) - India will continue to increase its purchases of Argentine soyoil this year, helping the South American country plug the gap left by China's boycott, the Indian ambassador to Buenos Aires said on Wednesday. Argentina is the world's biggest supplier of soybean oil, but exporters have been forced to look for new markets after top buyer China halted imports in late March in retaliation for Argentine import curbs on industrial goods.
