Egypt bought sunflower oil for $154/t more than in the previous tender

Over the past month, demand and prices for vegetable oils have been gradually increasing against the background of blocked exports from Ukraine and lower forecasts for EU rapeseed and US soybean harvests due to drought. Therefore, traders closely followed the results of the Egyptian food procurement tender, which became an indicator of price trends.

On July 26, the state-owned Egyptian operator GASC purchased 45,000 tons of vegetable oils, including 33,000 tons of sunflower oil, at a price of $1,080/t C&F in the following batches at an international tender:

• 12 thousand tons at TOI Commodities with delivery on August 6-20,
• 10,000 tons at Oliva AD with delivery on August 6-20,
• 5.5 thousand t in the company Aston Agro Industrial with delivery on August 6-20,
• 5.5 thousand t at the company Aston Agro Industrial with delivery from August 20 to September 5.

In addition, 11,875 thousand tons of soybean oil were purchased from LDC at a price of $1,150,1080/t C&F for delivery from August 20 to September 5.

The purchase price of sunflower oil was $154/t, and soybean oil - $102/t higher than at the previous tender on June 13. And the volume of purchased oil tripled, which indicates that GASC's expectations for a price reduction on the eve of the new season were not met.

The number of tender applications has also increased. Thus, GASC received 6 offers of sunflower oil at a price of $1,114-1,196/t, and 8 offers of soybean oil at a price of $1,200-1,259/t.

High prices for soybean and sunflower oil are due to a reduction in supplies from Ukraine, the USA and Argentina against the background of a decrease in soybean and sunflower stocks and a decrease in forecasts for the soybean harvest in the US in the new season.

Yesterday on the exchange in Chicago, September soybean oil futures fell by 1.8% to $1,450/t (after a week's increase of 10%), and December - by 1.8% to $1,370/t (+11, 9% per month).