Palm oil inventories in Malaysia climbed to an all-time high last month, as production of the world’s most-used cooking oil stayed near a record.
Stockpiles expanded 5.5 percent to 2.63 million tonnes from 2.49 million tonnes in August, data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board showed yesterday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey last week was for reserves to jump to 2.7 million tonnes. Inventories at the end of last month surpassed the previous record in December 2012 by 910 tonnes.
Rising stockpiles may scuttle a bull market rally in palm oil futures as record supplies of global vegetable oils and a collapse in crude oil weaken demand for the tropical oil used in everything from cooking oil to soaps and cosmetics.
Palm oil rallied last month as the strongest El Nino in nearly two decades threatens dry spells across Southeast Asia, where most of the crop is grown. A weak ringgit also fueled palm’s rally as it made the ringgit-priced feedstock more attractive for offshore customers.
Exports rose 4.4 percent to 1.68 million tonnes last month, board data show, more than the 1.62 million tonnes forecast in the Bloomberg survey.
Robust demand from Indian buyers and the weaker ringgit may underpin palm prices, said Hiro Chai, associate director at CIMB Futures Sdn in Kuala Lumpur.
“Exports are bigger than expected mainly because of the good Indian appetite and at the same time, Indonesia’s September exports were also fantastic,” Chai said yesterday by telephone. “We’ve seen quite a substantial correction and prices have reached an attractive level where people will buy on the series of good data.”
Exports from Indonesia, the world’s largest producer, increased 11 percent to 2.34 million tonnes last month, the Indonesian Palm Oil Association said.
India’s palm oil imports probably rose for a ninth month, advancing 15 percent to 800,000 tonnes last month from a year earlier, a Bloomberg survey showed.
Output in Malaysia totaled 1.96 million tonnes last month, just below estimates for 2 million tonnes and near the record 2.05 million tonnes a month ago, signaling palm trees may have entered a resting period after the peak output. Oil palm trees are at their peak production period between July and October before gradually entering a low-yielding season.
The benchmark contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives was at 2,263 ringgit a tonne at 3:27pm in Kuala Lumpur. Futures may have formed a floor at about 2,200 ringgit for the rest of the year and may rally if the Malaysian currency and production weakens, Chai said.
Malaysia and Indonesia, which together account for about 86 percent of the world’s palm oil supply, has agreed to form a council for producing countries, in efforts to cushion prices and work together to strengthen the industry.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last