Lower palm oil production in Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s two top producers, in September have kept prices of the commodity high, the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (GAPKI) said.
Indonesian crude palm oil (CPO) production weakened by around one percent in September to 4.176 million tons while Malaysia’s t dropped by around 0.39 percent, GAPKI said in a press release issued on November 11, 2021.
CPO prices cif Rotterdam in September stood at $1,235/ton, or slightly higher than the $1,226 per ton in August. “The rise in palm oil prices may have been caused by the low stock level in early September which only stood at 3.4 million ton, or 1.1 million tons lower than in August,” the GAPKI release said, adding that by end of September the stock had only grown to 3.65 million tons.
A rise in prices was also experienced by rapeseed oil which went from $1,486 per ton in August to $1,606 per ton in September while the prices of soybean went down from $1,435 per ton in August to $ 1,405 per ton the following month. Sunflower oil also went down from $1,380 per ton in August to $1,333 per ton the following month.
September exports of palm oil also went down from 4.274 million tons to 2.886 million tons and its export value also dropped from $4.433 billion in August to $3.111 billion in September.
The highest drop in export volume percentage was for the Netherlands with 83.5 percent to just 33,460 tons, followed by a 81.76 percent drop in exports to Malaysia to just 35,100 tons , India 71.3 percent to 275,500 tons, European Union as a whole 52.54 percent to 219,600 tons and exports of CPO to China dropped by 49.92 percent to 467,400 tons.
Year-on-Year (Y-0-Y) up to September 2021, CPO exports to China this year was already 25.7 percent higher than in the same period last year. Exports to Malaysia was 52 percent higher while to India, the Netherlands and the European Union exports dropped respectively by 24.4 percent, 0.4 percent and 8.1 percent.
Domestic consumption stood at 1,475,000 tons in September, relatively stable compare to August’s 1,465,000 tons. Consumption of CPO for food went down by 6.4 percent to 672,000 tons while for biodiesel it rose by 9.3 percent to 622,000 tons. Consumption for oleochemicals remained relatively stable too at 313,000 tons.