India is increasing its imports of palm oil, while purchases of sunflower oil are minimal

According to traders, thanks to lower prices for vegetable oils, India in March increased palm oil imports by 28% compared to February from 586,000 tons (which was an 8-month low) to 750,000 tons, but reduced soybean oil imports by 27% to 259 thousand tons and sunflower - by 4% to the 5-month minimum of 150 thousand tons, while in January its import reached 450 thousand tons.

In April-May, palm oil imports are expected to decrease due to a narrowing of the spread relative to other oils to $70/t compared to $150/t in March.

Demand prices for Ukrainian sunflower oil this week rose to $950-960/t DAP – Romania and Bulgaria and $1020-1050/t DAP – Italy and Spain. In addition, there was a demand for oil deliveries to Black Sea ports at a price of $850-900/t FOB.

Indian traders believe that due to the low demand for palm oil from India and China, part of the market may be captured by Ukrainian sunflower oil, the price of which is currently lower than that of palm oil.

June palm oil futures on the Malaysian Stock Exchange rose 0.67% or 26 ringgit/t to 3,894 ringgit/t or $885/t after Wednesday's drop yesterday amid a sharp drawdown in inventories.

According to Reuters, palm oil stocks in Malaysia at the end of March decreased by 16.3% compared to February to an 8-month low of 1.77 million tons due to increased exports ahead of Ramadan.

Traders expect Indonesia to ramp up palm oil exports after Ramadan, putting pressure on quotations.

The Argentine government on Wednesday announced the implementation of a third plan to increase foreign exchange earnings from April 8 to May 24 by increasing soybean exports. Preliminary plans were implemented in the second half of 2022 and provided for an increase in sales and exports of soybeans and its processing products. For this, the producer exchange rate is set at 300 pesos/dollar, while the official exchange rate is 210 pesos/dollar.

Soybean oil futures on the Chicago Stock Exchange fell for a third day in a row and were down 0.3% yesterday, while soybean oil futures on the Dalian Exchange rose 0.6% and palm oil futures rose 0.5% %.