20130117 1612 Palm Oil Related News.

Indian edible oil futures extend gains on import duty hike - RTRS
17-Jan-2013 15:46
MUMBAI, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Soyoil and crude palm oil futures on Indian commodity exchanges extended gains on Thursday afternoon after the government decided to raise import duty on crude edible oils.
India has slapped a 2.5 percent import duty on crude edible oils, Information Minister Manish Tewari, a move taken to stem overseas purchases by the world's top vegetable oil buyer and protect its domestic oilseed growers. (Full Story)
Soyoil futures NSOG3 on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange extended gains up to 1 percent, while crude palm oil futures MCAG3 on Multi Commodity Exchange rose up to 2.6 percent after the announcement.


VEGOILS-Palm edges down, investors eye exports
Thu Jan 17, 2013 12:36am EST
* Profit-taking on positive market sentiment -analyst
    * Rangebound trade expected for rest of week -analyst
    * Palm oil to retrace to 2,403 ringgit -technicals

 (Updates prices, adds detail)
    By Anuradha Raghu
    KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures
edged down on Thursday as investors locked in profits after
steady gains in prices, although market optimism was capped by a
dismal export performance in the first half of January.
    The tropical oil posted gains this week after Malaysia, the
world's no.2 producer, said it would keep its crude palm oil
export tax at zero percent in February to spur shipments and cut
stockpiles which hit a record 2.63 million tonnes in December.
    Traders also took cues from hints of recovering demand from
major buyers as temperatures become warmer and more suitable for
palm oil, which solidifies in winter.
    "We are seeing some profit-taking today. For the rest of the
week the market is going to trade on a rangebound basis," said
Phillip Futures analyst Ker Chung Yang in Singapore.
    "We have positive sentiment from the zero-duty tax
structure, but at the same time we also have cargo surveyor data
showing us Malaysian exports falling by double digits."
    By the midday break, the benchmark April contract
on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had inched down 0.6
percent to 2,417 ringgit ($800) per tonne.
    Total traded volume stood at 16,603 lots of 25 tonnes each,
higher than the usual 12,500 lots as investors traded to lock in
profits.
    Technical analysis showed that Malaysian palm oil may end
its current rebound around resistance at 2,449 ringgit per
tonne, retracing to 2,403 ringgit, said Reuters market analyst
Wang Tao.
    Malaysia, which neighbours top producer and rival Indonesia,
has been struggling with record stocks since September due to
tepid global economic conditions and the euro zone crisis which
have stifled demand and caused prices to tumble 23 percent in
2012.
    While end-stocks are expected to slowly shrink in the first
quarter of the this year on the back of a seasonally slowing
production, sluggish exports could crimp any recovery in prices.
    "For December we have stocks at 2.63 million tonnes. My
assumption is that we are not going to see a 3 million tonne
stock level, but it all depends on how exports play out for the
rest of the month."
    Brent futures slipped on Thursday as signs of a weakening
global economic outlook revived demand worries, but the contract
stayed above $109 a barrel on supply concerns after Islamist
militants attacked an Algerian gas field.
    U.S. soyoil for March delivery fell 0.5 percent in
early Asian trade. The most active May soybean oil contract
 on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.4 percent.  


Palm Oil Drops as Lower Exports, Indian Tax May Bolster Reserves
2013-01-17 04:40:31.385 GMT

    Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Palm oil declined for the first time
in three days on concerns that inventories in Malaysia may stay
near record levels as exports drop and India, the world’s
biggest buyer, plans to tax imports to protect local growers.
    The contract for delivery in April, which has the largest
volume, fell as much as 0.9 percent to 2,408 ringgit ($797) a
metric ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange, and ended the
morning session at 2,417 ringgit in Kuala Lumpur.
    Palm oil slumped 23 percent last year, falling to a three-
year low of 2,217 ringgit on Dec. 13, as economic slowdowns in
Europe and China reduced demand. Stockpiles in Malaysia jumped
to an all-time high of 2.63 million tons in December, according
to the nation’s palm oil board. Exports tumbled 21 percent to
570,510 tons in the first 15 days of this month from the same
period in December, Intertek said Jan. 15.
    “Malaysian exports are not that impressive and showed
demand weakness,” Chung Yang Ker, an analyst at Phillip Futures
Pte Ltd. in Singapore, said by phone. Futures may trade in a
range of 2,400 ringgit and 2,480 ringgit a ton, he said.
    JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut its palm oil price forecast by 10
percent to 2,600 ringgit a ton for 2013-2014 from 2,900 a ton
earlier, analysts Simone Yeoh and Ying-Jian Chan said in a
report today, citing an overhang of inventories.
    India will consider imposing a 5 percent duty on crude palm
oil imports to shield domestic oilseed growers from cheap
supplies, according to two government officials. The cabinet may
also discuss raising the tariff on refined cooking oils to 10
percent from 7.5 percent today, they said yesterday.
    A duty on Indian imports would delay palm oil price
recovery further, Chye Wen Fei, an analyst at Hong Leong
Investment Bank in Kuala Lumpur, wrote in a report today.
    Refined palm oil for delivery in May fell 0.5 percent to
6,740 yuan ($1,083) a ton on the Dalian Commodity Exchange.
Soybean oil for September rose 0.4 percent to 8,698 yuan a ton.


Palm Oil Stockpiles in Indonesia Seen Rising as Exports Decline
2013-01-17 03:59:48.839 GMT

    Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Palm oil inventories in Indonesia
will probably rise to almost 90 percent of capacity as exports
from the largest grower drop after Malaysia set its tariff at
zero and as China imposed more stringent rules on shipments.
    Stockpiles may gain to 3.5 million metric tons in January
from 3.25 million tons in December, according to the median of
estimates from two plantation companies, a refiner and an
analyst compiled by Bloomberg. Shipments may decline 0.6 percent
to 1.54 million tons, while production is seen stable at 2.5
million tons, the medians of estimates from the same four
respondents and a third plantation company showed.
    Rising inventories would increase pressure on Indonesia to
cut its export tax to compete with Malaysia. The second-largest
producer set the tariff on shipments at zero this month to drain
record reserves and the government has said the rate will be
unchanged in February. Indonesia has about 4 million tons of
storage capacity, according to Deputy Trade Minister Bayu
Krisnamurthi. It doesn’t publish official data on inventories.
    “If the government cuts the export tax, it will definitely
help boost shipments because we’re still in oversupply in the
short term,” Jeffrosenberg Tan, a Jakarta-based analyst at PT
Sinarmas Sekuritas, said yesterday.
    Attempts by Indonesian exporters to cut reserves are
hampered by the zero tariff in Malaysia, causing inventories to
stay high at about 3.5 million tons this month, Joko Supriyono,
a director at PT Astra Agro Lestari, said by phone from Jakarta
on Jan. 15. Supriyono is also secretary-general at the
Indonesian Palm Oil Association.

                          Zero Too

    Indonesia’s Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said Jan. 11 that
the government is considering a cut in its export tax and
“ideally” the tariff should be zero too so it can compete with
Malaysia. The palm oil association, known as Gapki, has asked
the government to reduce the tax to avoid losing market share in
countries such as India that typically buy more crude oil. The
tax was set at 7.5 percent this month.
    Shipments from Indonesia in January would be the lowest
since October, when they reached 1.42 million tons, according to
Gapki figures. Exports of palm and lauric oils surged 39 percent
to 1.98 million tons in November from a month earlier, the
highest level since at least January 2008, which is the earliest
data available from the growers and refiners group.
    Palm oil futures have tumbled into a bear market in Kuala
Lumpur as inventories in Indonesia and Malaysia surged because
of low demand amid an economic slowdown in China and Europe.
Prices dropped 23 percent last year. The contract for April
delivery fell 0.8 percent today to 2,411 ringgit ($798) a ton.
    China’s tightening of checks on oils imports from Jan. 1
will also affect shipments as cargoes will need more time to
pass customs, said Susanto, head of marketing at Gapki. Imports
of palm by China, the biggest cooking oil user, may drop to
300,000 tons this month, less than half of those in December
because of the new rules, according to the median of estimates
from six traders and researchers in Bloomberg survey this week.