October 26, 2009

India's edible oil prices were mixed during the week ended Friday (October 23) as harvesting of the new soy crop continued at a steady pace, and export demand for soymeal was good.

"As the new crop arrivals are picking up, traders are finalizing forward soymeal export deals mostly for South East Asian countries," said a trader based in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

Daily arrivals of soy in Madhya Pradesh, main growing region, were around 550,000 bags of 90 kilograms each during the week, higher than the 375,000 bags the previous week, traders said.

India's September oilmeal exports were up 19 percent on year at 231,297 tonnes.

Demand for edible oil at the retail level has also eased a bit after seeing a surge in demand during the festival of Diwali last week, the trader said.

Meanwhile, India's carry forward stocks of rapeseed from the current oil marketing year starting Nov. 1 will likely cross 2 million tonnes amid higher imports of vegetable oils, Solvent Extractors' Association of India said.

The country had almost no carry forward rapeseed stocks last year, according to industry estimates.

Friday, refined, bleached and deodorized palm olein prices fell to INR36,200 (US$780.84)/tonne from INR36,400 (US$785.160)/tonne last week, while refined soyoil was at INR42,400 (US$914.58)/tonne, down from INR43,500 (US$938.30)/tonne a week ago.

However, crude palm oil rose to INR32,300 (US$696.72)/tonne from INR31,800 (US$685.93)/tonne last week.

US$1 = INR46.36 (Oct 26)