China's February palm oil stocks rise at one million tonnes
Posted by Labels: China, Malaysia, palm oil
China's palm oil stocks probably rose to nearly a million tonnes in February with a further build-up seen as traders keep buying cargoes from Malaysia and Indonesia on concern over strengthening prices, a Reuters survey showed on Thursday.
Stocks in the world's No 2 consumer of the tropical oil probably rose to 950,000 tonnes over eight months - more than double the usual 400,000 tonnes - according to a median survey of five Chinese and Singaporean trading houses polled ahead of the Bursa Malaysia Palm Oil Conference next week.
China's February imports of palm oil probably stood at 400,000 tonnes, 9.7 percent lower than 443,241 tonnes in January although these levels still reflected strong demand, the poll respondents said.
Palm oil demand has remained robust on the back of re-stocking after the Lunar New Year festival in January and survey respondents said that it could go higher as Chinese importers want to lock in cargoes before prices rise further.
One survey respondent said stocks may go up to 1.5 million tonnes before imports start to slow as China has the capacity to store the edible oil.
China is stocking up not only on palm oil but other commodities such as soybean oil and copper, the respondent added.
The country does not release official figures on stock levels.
China imported around 250,000 tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia and 185,000 tonnes from Indonesia in January, Reuters calculations on China's customs data showed.
Resilient China demand may lead to better Malaysian export numbers in March.
In February exports declined about 10 percent, cargo surveyors data showed, initially sparking fears that Asian demand for the edible oil might be slowing.
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