SINGAPORE: Palm oil imports by India probably fell for a fourth month after futures in Malaysia entered a bull market and ample domestic stockpiles prompted refiners and traders to cut purchases.
Imports dropped 2.5 per cent to 790,000 metric tons in August from a year earlier, according to the median of five estimates in a Bloomberg survey of processors, brokers and analysts. Total vegetable oil purchases fell 1.4 per cent to 1.36 million tons, the survey showed. The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India is set to release import data in the middle of the month.
Palm oil entered a bull market last month on rising demand ahead of festivals in China and India and as a slow recovery in El Nino-hit yields constrains supplies. The rally in prices has prompted some Indian buyers to switch to other edible oils to bridge a shortfall in domestic supplies.
“Demand is moderate because of high prices and stockpiles,” said Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive officer of Sunvin Group, a Mumbai-based broker and consultant for the oilseed industry. “There is disparity in Indian market. Imports will start increasing from September on festivals.”
The contract for November delivery on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives rose 0.9 per cent to RM2,632 a ton by the midday break in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, heading for a second weekly gain. Futures, which surged 9.1 per cent in August, may rally to RM3,000 by the end of the year with declining production in the fourth quarter, according to Barnabas Gan, an analyst at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp.
