Soy product futures ended lower across the board, led by tumbling soyoil futures. Soyoil retraced Friday's strong gains, correcting out-of-line spread relationships with soymeal on higher-than-expected monthly NOPA soyoil stocks and record government ending supply estimates released Thursday, said Doane Advisory Services analyst Bill Nelson. December soyoil settled 1.07 cents, or 2.5%, lower at 42.07 cents per pound. December soymeal ended $1.30 or 0.4% lower at $295.40 per short ton.(Source: CME)
India Minister: No Plan To Impose Import Tax On Crude Edible Oil(Source: CME)
India has no plans to tax crude edible oil imports or raise the import tax on refined edible oil, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said Monday.
The government is concerned about a recent rise in global edible oil prices, Pawar told reporters. "So, we are not going to take any action that may obstruct imports."
Local traders have been speculating the government may impose an import tax to help local farmers.
"There is no thinking, no substance, no basis (of these rumors)," Pawar said.
India currently doesn't levy any tax on crude edible oil imports, but imposes a 7.5% tax on refined edible oil imports. The price of refined, bleached and deodorized palm olein at Mumbai port has risen 19% to $970 a ton between July 13 and Aug. 13, while that of crude palm oil has increased 16.6% to $910/ton.
The South Asian nation meets more than half of its vegetable oil requirement through imports as production lags consumption. It imports palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, and soyoil mostly from Brazil and Argentina.
India's vegetable oil imports in July climbed 34.3% from a year earlier to 800,644 metric tons due to a sharp increase in soyoil imports, according to the Solvent Extractors' Association of India. But vegetable oil imports in the first nine months of the marketing year that started Nov. 1 slipped a tad to 6.38 million tons from 6.42 million tons a year earlier.
According to industry estimates, total edible oil imports in 2009-10 are likely to hit a record high of 8.5 million-8.6 million tons, up from 8.2 million tons last year.
Pawar said the government will likely extend a scheme to export 10,000 metric tons of edible oil in small consumer packages. The scheme is currently valid until the end of September.
Pawar said he is confident about a bumper harvest of summer-sown foodgrains because of higher plantings, though rice sowing in some parts of eastern India has been hit by low rainfall.
The government had earlier estimated a record rice harvest of 100 million tons in the crop year through June 2011.
He also said the government isn't thinking of lifting a ban on wheat and non-basmati rice exports, although bulging wheat stocks have sparked speculation in global markets about Indian exports.
India's wheat stocks at the end of July stood at 32.04 million tons, much higher than the buffer requirement of 17.1 million tons. The government is stocking up foodgrains as it is finalizing a law to provide subsidized foodgrains to the poor.
Opposition members have attacked the government in parliament for storing foodgrain in the open due to a shortage of storage space, causing large quantities to be washed away by rains or rot.
The storage problems are likely to worsen in coming months because the country is heading for a bumper foodgrain crop due to normal monsoon rains in the grain-bowl northern states of Punjab, Haryana and most parts of Uttar Pradesh.
Palm down on weak demand, weather curbs losses
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures closed almost half a percent lower on Monday on weaker overseas demand but weather concerns in key soy-growing regions limited losses.
Traders were concerned that strong demand was tapering off when cargo surveyors reported up to 16.4 percent decline in Malaysian palm oil exports for August 1-15.
Thailand plans to cut soymeal import tax to zero next year
BANGKOK, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Thailand plans to slash its soymeal import tariff to zero next year in a bid to curb rising feed costs and overall inflation, a senior Commerce Ministry official said on Monday.
"This is part of our plan to reduce the costs of living and keep inflation in check," said Vatchari Vimooktayon, a director-general of the Commerce Ministry's Department of Interior Trade.
Heat threatens soy yields in south U.S. Midwest, Delta
SINGAPORE, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Hot and dry weather in southern U.S. Midwest and Delta regions this week is likely to stress the soybean crop in its critical pod-filling stage, raising fears of yields losses, a forecaster said.
The six-to-ten day outlook calls for above normal temperatures and below normal rains in the southeast, said Mike Palmerino, a forecaster with Telvent DTN weather service.
India's July vegoil imports up 34 pct y/y
NEW DELHI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - India's July vegetable oil imports rose 34 percent from a year ago, its first annual rise since December, as importers stocked up ahead of the three-month festival season, data from a leading trade body showed on Monday.
Traders in the world's top cooking oil buyer had expected a 36 percent annual rise in July vegoil imports.
