Vegetable oil prices continue to fall following oil quotes

A sharp drop in oil prices and improving weather conditions in South America added pressure on vegetable oil prices, which fell during the week.

February Brent oil futures on the London ICE Futures exchange fell 10.3% since December 1 to the lowest level since July at $77.2/barrel (-5.5% for the week, 9.6% for the month) on against the backdrop of a decline in global demand.

January WTI oil futures on electronic trading of the New York Stock Exchange NYMEX fell by 5.13% to $72.3/barrel from December 1 (-5.8% for the week, 11.3% for the month).

Following oil prices and forecasts of reduced demand from the biodiesel industry, January soybean oil futures on the Chicago Stock Exchange fell 4% to $1,107/t from December 1 (-5.5% for the week, -0.5 % for the month), losing speculative growth caused by fears of a possible reduction in the soybean harvest in Brazil.

Under pressure from lower oil and vegetable oil prices, palm oil futures in Malaysia fell for a third session in a row, despite a 2-11% increase in exports in November and reduced inventories due to increased supplies to India.

Thus, February palm oil futures on the Bursa exchange fell by 3% to 3,781 ringgits/t or $810/t from December 1 (-4.5% in two weeks).

Malaysia's palm oil stocks fell in November for the first time since April, thanks to a seasonal drop in output, while oil exports continued to rise.

On the exchange in Dalian, the most active contract for soybean oil fell by 0.42% yesterday, and for palm oil - by 1.36%.

Sunflower oil prices in Ukraine during the week fell by another 5% to $750-770/t with delivery to Black Sea or Danube ports under the pressure of increased oil offers on the Turkish market. Demand prices there reached $880-910/t last week, but then fell sharply due to falling prices in India and China.