November 12, 2003

China Soyoil Buying To Slow in Next 1-2 Months
 

In the next one to two months, China's soyoil purchasing is expected to slow, due to the recent buying surge that will generate big imports in the current quarter, Hamburg-based newsletter Oil World said on Tuesday.

It predicted that China's October/December 2003 soyoil imports would jump to 950,000 tons or even 1.0 million tons from 518,000 tons the same time last year.

China's October/December palm oil imports were seen rising to 710,000 tons from 632,000 tons the same time in 2002.

"Following the recent heavy Chinese purchases and the resulting large imports of soyoil and palm oil, we expect Chinese buying activity to slow down at least temporarily," Oil World said.

"The big imports in the current quarter coupled with a seasonal increase in domestic oilseed crushings will result in a recovery of oil stocks in China."

Oil World added that this could put downward price pressure on the world market in the near term.