Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - According to a Reuters survey released on Friday, Malaysia's palm oil stockpiles are projected to sh...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - According to a Reuters survey released on Friday, Malaysia's palm oil stockpiles are projected to shrink for the sixth month in a row at the end of May, owing to dropping production and a spike in exports to their highest level since December.
According to the consensus forecast of 11 planters, dealers, and analysts polled by Reuters, the world's second-largest producer's inventory will decrease 6% from the previous month to 1.54 million tonnes.
Due to fewer harvesting days after the Eid al-Fitr holidays, which mark the end of the Muslim fasting month, production likely fell 4% to a three-month low of 1.4 million tonnes.
Exports are expected to increase by 20% to 1.27 million tonnes, the highest level in five months, owing in part to a three-week export embargo in competitor supplier Indonesia, which drove merchants to switch to Malaysian palm oil.
Indonesia had restricted exports on April 28 in order to safeguard domestic cooking oil supply, but has since removed the embargo and is preparing to resume shipments now that a domestic sales judgement has been issued.
Since enabling shipments to restart, the world's top producer has awarded export permits to 21 businesses for a total of 275,454 tonnes of palm oil products, according to senior Indonesian Trade Ministry official Oke Nurwan.
According to Sathia Varqa, co-founder of Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics, Malaysia's exports are projected to fall in June after a strong showing last month, with more competition from Indonesia as it re-enters the market further affecting demand.
On June 10, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board will publish its findings.
Estimates for May (in tonnes) are broken down as follows:
The median of the range
1,330,439-1,600,000 production 1,403,540 production
Exports range from 1,160,000 to 1,400,000 dollars, with a total of 1,265,460 dollars.
0-100,000 $60,000 $60,000 $60,000 $60,000 $60,000 $60,000 $60,000 $60,000 $60,000 $60,000 $60,000
Stocks to be closed 1,445,454-1,802,500 1,543,000
* April's official inventories of 1,641,994 tonnes, plus the above-mentioned anticipated output and imports, result in a total supply of 3,105,534 tonnes in May. Malaysia's domestic consumption in May is expected to be 297,074 tonnes, based on the median of exports and closing stocks estimate.
