Stable oil prices support quotations for vegetable oils

Oil prices fell last week on easing tensions in the Middle East, but rose this week amid data on the U.S. economy, declining U.S. crude inventories and stronger demand for vegetable oils used in biodiesel production.

According to S&P Global, business activity in the US fell to a 4-month low in April, which led to a decline in the dollar. Usually, in such periods, investors look for alternative assets, so the demand for oil increases.

June Brent oil futures on the London ICE Futures exchange rose by 0.8% to $88/barrel (+2.3% for the month), and May WTI oil futures on the New York NYMEX rose by 0.8% to $88/barrel from Monday 0.7% to $82.8/barrel (+1.7% for the month).

According to the EIA's weekly report, as of April 19, crude oil stocks in the US decreased by 6.37 million barrels, although analysts expected their increase by 2 million barrels. At the same time, distillate stocks increased by 1.6 million barrels, and gasoline stocks decreased by 634,000 barrels, while according to forecasts they were supposed to decrease by 1.75 million barrels. US crude oil production during April 13-19 remained at 13.1 million bpd, slightly below the recently set record of 13.3 million bpd.

According to the Baker Hughes company, the number of active oil rigs in the USA for April 13-19 increased by 5 units. to a 7-month high of 511 units, which will allow production to increase in the near future.

In April, after attacks by Ukrainian UAVs, Russian oil refineries reduced oil refining to an annual minimum of 5.23 million tons/day. At night, Ukrainian drones attacked two oil depots in the Smolensk region.

Despite lower exports, June palm oil futures on Bursa Malaysia remain steady at RM3,940/t or $825/t (-1.8% weekly, -9.5% two-weekly) on support high oil prices and heat in Malaysia.

May soybean oil futures on the Chicago Stock Exchange fell to $982/t yesterday (-0.9% for the week, -6.6% for the fortnight) after Monday's gains on the back of picking up in Argentina and higher refining volumes soybeans

According to Trading Economics, the average price of sunflower oil with delivery to buyers during the week remained at $868/t (-0.6% for two weeks), in particular, in Ukraine it was $790-800/t with delivery to Black Sea ports.

The unblocking of the border with Poland has increased the demand for Ukrainian sunflower oil from Polish biodiesel producers, who are offering $840-860/t for it with delivery to Poland, which exceeds the price of edible oil. At the same time, Bulgarian buyers reduce their asking prices.