Egypt's GASC has purchased a large batch of vegetable oils at discounted prices

On August 24, the state-owned Egyptian operator GASC held an international tender, where it purchased a significant amount of vegetable oils, including sunflower oil, at a price 2% lower than at the August 16 auction.

The number of submitted applications has increased sharply compared to the previous tender: sunflower oil – from 6 to 12 offers at a price of $990-1064/t C&F (by $16-59/t below the price of previous auctions), soybean oil – from 6 to 8 offers at a price of $1,070-$1,096/t C&F (by $45-46/t below the price of previous auctions).

As a result, GASC purchased 124,000 tons of vegetable oils with immediate payment and delivery from October 6 to November 5, 2023, including 109,000 tons of sunflower oil at a price of $970/t C&F, which is 2% lower than the tender price on August 16 and 11 % - tender prices on July 26, as well as 15 thousand tons of soybean oil at a price of $1,010/t C&F, which is 13.9% less than the tender price on July 26.

Sunflower oil of Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Russian production was purchased in the following lots:

• 30,000 tons at Viterra,
• 12 thousand t in the company TOI Commodities,
• 12 thousand t in the Inerco company,
• 24 thousand t in the company Green Suppliers,
• 20 thousand t in Oliva AD company,
• 11,000 tons at Aston Agro Industrial.

Another 15,000 tons of soybean oil were purchased from Inter Grain SA.

Stock prices for palm oil and soybean oil edged up last week amid heatwaves in the U.S. and forecasts of a lower soybean harvest.

October palm oil futures on Bursa Malaysia rose 2% to 3,962 ringgit/t or $854/t on Friday (+2.4% on the week), but prices remained under pressure from a decline in exports from the country.

According to the companies AmSpec Agri Malaysia and Intertek Testing Services, for August 1-25, exports of palm oil products from Malaysia decreased by 4.3-7.8% compared to the same period in July.

December soybean oil futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange rose 0.3% to $1,396/t on Friday (-1% for the week), while asking prices for sunflower oil for delivery to buyers during the week fell from 920 to $895/ton.