Subject: India asks to defer 100,000t crude palm oil trade
India asks to defer 100,000t crude
palm oil trade
(KUALA LUMPUR) Indian palm oil
importers have asked Malaysian and
Indonesian producers to defer up to
100,000 tonnes of crude palm oil meant
for August delivery to September and
October, Indian traders said
yesterday.
India, the second largest vegetable
oil buyer in the world, has been
defaulting on purchases in the last
two to three weeks as a result of
plummeting prices and traders warn
there may be more defaults or
deferments in the days to come.
'Refiners will suffer significant
cash-flow problems if they take
delivery of the crude palm oil
shipments at higher prices agreed
earlier especially when current market
rates are so much lower,' a leading
trader from Mumbai told Reuters by
telephone. Another Mumbai trader said
that deferring shipments of palm oil
will give Indian refiners more
breathing space as prices of the
vegetable oil are widely expected to
recover in the next few months.
Malaysian crude palm oil futures fell
1.8 per cent by midday yesterday to
hit a one-year low, despite firmer
commodity prices, on talk that Asia
buyers will continue to default on
cargoes.
Palm oil prices have slid 20.2 per
cent this year and have nearly halved
from their March peak on a knock-out
combination of high stocks, news of
defaults from China and India as well
as weak commodity markets.
Some traders said that deferments were
more likely than defaults in the South
Asian nation in the coming days as
palm oil cargoes could still be locked
in while refiners take immediate
advantage of cheaper domestic oilseed
prices and better crops.
'The festival season is coming up but
it will not be such a strain because
of the rising domestic soybean crop
and cheap prices,' said an Indian
trader.
Solvent Extractors' Association of
India President Ashok Sethia earlier
told Reuters that soybean output will
be 10 million tonnes in 2008, from 9.3
million tonnes in 2007.
India imports almost half of its
annual consumption of about 11 million
tonnes of vegetable oils in the form
of palm oil from Malaysia and
Indonesia and soyoil from Brazil and
Argentina. -- Reuters
India asks to defer 100,000t crude
palm oil trade
(KUALA LUMPUR) Indian palm oil
importers have asked Malaysian and
Indonesian producers to defer up to
100,000 tonnes of crude palm oil meant
for August delivery to September and
October, Indian traders said
yesterday.
India, the second largest vegetable
oil buyer in the world, has been
defaulting on purchases in the last
two to three weeks as a result of
plummeting prices and traders warn
there may be more defaults or
deferments in the days to come.
'Refiners will suffer significant
cash-flow problems if they take
delivery of the crude palm oil
shipments at higher prices agreed
earlier especially when current market
rates are so much lower,' a leading
trader from Mumbai told Reuters by
telephone. Another Mumbai trader said
that deferring shipments of palm oil
will give Indian refiners more
breathing space as prices of the
vegetable oil are widely expected to
recover in the next few months.
Malaysian crude palm oil futures fell
1.8 per cent by midday yesterday to
hit a one-year low, despite firmer
commodity prices, on talk that Asia
buyers will continue to default on
cargoes.
Palm oil prices have slid 20.2 per
cent this year and have nearly halved
from their March peak on a knock-out
combination of high stocks, news of
defaults from China and India as well
as weak commodity markets.
Some traders said that deferments were
more likely than defaults in the South
Asian nation in the coming days as
palm oil cargoes could still be locked
in while refiners take immediate
advantage of cheaper domestic oilseed
prices and better crops.
'The festival season is coming up but
it will not be such a strain because
of the rising domestic soybean crop
and cheap prices,' said an Indian
trader.
Solvent Extractors' Association of
India President Ashok Sethia earlier
told Reuters that soybean output will
be 10 million tonnes in 2008, from 9.3
million tonnes in 2007.
India imports almost half of its
annual consumption of about 11 million
tonnes of vegetable oils in the form
of palm oil from Malaysia and
Indonesia and soyoil from Brazil and
Argentina. -- Reuters
