December 23, 2011
China's December soyoil market bucks seasonal trend
Despite the arrival of the traditional peak marketing season ahead of the New Year holiday and the Spring Festival, wholesale prices of soyoil in China have been dropping persistently since the beginning of December.
A survey on Beijing Yuquanlu Grain and Oils Wholesale Market showed that many cooking oil brands continued to trim their wholesale prices of soyoil in the past several days and have accumulatively cut prices by 1-3% so far this month. However, sales on the market have not increased significantly despite the price decline.
A manager with the market said that soyoil prices have followed a downward path in the past three months mainly weighed down by falling soy products prices on the international market.
"The coming holidays will not produce substantial effects on the soyoil market, but may just have impact on the psychological level," the manager noted.
Industry insiders also predict that soyoil prices will maintain weak fluctuation before the Spring Festival holiday in January 22-28 and are unlikely to rise sharply as international soy market lacks factors for rebound.
Soyoil is the most popular cooking oil product in China followed by rapeseed oil and peanut oil.
The State Administration of Grain earlier published a notice requiring related departments to ensure supply of grain and oils during holidays and timely release reserves into the market to stabilise prices.