Sun, May 01, 2022 page12

• Indonesia’s palm oil export ban heats up already hot vegetable oil market

  • By Thomas Urbain / AFP, NEW YORK
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  Indonesia’s decision to suspend palm oil exports in the face of domestic shortages has pushed vegetable oil prices to new highs, further tightening a market already on edge due to the war in Ukraine and global warming.

  The prices of palm, soybean, European rapeseed and even its Canadian genetically modified organism (GMO) counterpart, canola oil, have reached historic highs following Indonesia’s announcement on Wednesday.

  “We already had problems with soybeans in South America, with canola in Canada,” said Philippe Chalmin, an economics professor at Paris-Dauphine University in France, adding that both crops had been severely affected by extended droughts.

  

  A sign asking shoppers to limit purchases of cooking oil is pictured in a supermarket in Ashford, England, on Saturday last week.

  Photo: AP

  Then came devastation for the “sunflowers in Ukraine” due to Russia’s destructive invasion, he added.

  Palm oil is the most consumed vegetable oil in the world, and Indonesia accounts for 35 percent of global exports, said James Fry, chairman of LMC consulting firm.

  Indonesia’s export ban is designed to bring down prices in the country and limit shortages, authorities have said.

  However, Chalmin said the move “comes at the worst time.”

  “The rise in prices dates back to last year already and it is exacerbated by the Ukrainian conflict,” he said.

  Rich Nelson of the agricultural market research and trading firm Allendale said “the industry believes it’ll last maybe for one month, perhaps two.”

  However, in the meantime, prices are skyrocketing in a market that was “already accelerated,” he said.

  Unlike other oilseeds, palm fruit does not keep once picked and has to be processed immediately, Fry said.

  Indonesia’s palm oil storage system, which was already holding substantial reserves, is now under further stress, Fry said.

  Even though the price of vegetable oil, in addition to multiple other agricultural commodities, has been rising for months, demand has yet to slow.

  “It’s difficult to ration demand for food commodities with higher prices,” StoneX Financial chief commodities economist Arlan Suderman said.

  Palm oil, which is used heavily in processed food, such as instant noodles and baked goods, is also present in other consumer products, such as personal care items and cosmetics.

  “Eventually it will trickle down,” said Paul Desert-Cazenave of consulting firm Grainbow. “But it’s still too early to measure price increases to consumers.”

  In the short term, the only oilseed that might be able to provide some relief on the vegetable oil market is the soybean.

  The US and Brazil, the world’s two top soybean exporters, still have available stock, even though more shipments from the countries would only have a marginal impact on edible oil prices.

  The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) last month announced that it expects soybean acreage to increase more than 4 percent from last year, while corn would shrink by a comparable amount.

  Meanwhile, the world’s top rapeseed exporter, Canada, on Tuesday said that it expected a 7 percent decline in acreage devoted to the GMO rapeseeds used in canola oil.

  Analysts and economists say they see a need for public policy concerning the food crisis, since in addition to food, vegetable oils are also widely used in biofuels.

  Based on the current crisis, “we’re going to see more pressure on countries to reduce their biodiesel blending mandates and renewable diesel mandates,” Suderman said.

  “That’s going to take time,” he said. “But that’s ultimately where you’re going to get your biggest demand destruction.”

  Europe passed a directive in 2018 excluding palm oil from renewable energy targets by 2030. Some of the bloc’s countries, including France, have already stopped using it.

  Despite the turmoil, Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s second-largest exporter, have maintained their respective programs blending palm oil in their biofuels.

  To make matters worse, many of the major palm oil importers, mainly Egypt, Bangladesh and Pakistan, have seen their currencies depreciate significantly in the past few months, said Michael Zuzolo, president of Global Commodity Analytics and Consulting.

  Meanwhile, some major oilseed exporters, such as the US and Brazil, have experienced the opposite, with the US dollar reaching multiyear highs.

  “This is kind of the worst-case scenario starting to develop,” Zuzolo said. Putting importers in a “negative feedback loop where they’re going to have more and more difficulty keeping supplies ample, that’s the potential tragedy we’re walking ourselves into.”

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