Edible oil remained range bound in the spot market on thin trade on Wednesday, tracking slightly bearish Malaysian palm oil data. Groundnut oil dropped by Rs 5 for 10 kg. Cottonseed refined oil increased by Rs 4 for 10 kg, tracking firm trend at the producing level. Imported palmolein and soyabean refined oil ruled steady. Sunflower and rapeseed oil were unchanged despite lack of demand. Malaysian palm oil futures fell to a two-week low on Wednesday in light trade after a long holiday weekend, with investors cautious ahead of industry data.
Data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board showed that end stocks were down 1.9 per cent to 25.8 lakh tonnes in January. Shailesh Kataria of Riddhi Broker said: “That was off recent record levels but missed expectations of a bigger fall.”
Stockists avoided fresh buying and took deliveries of commitments made in advance. Expectation of an increase in import duty kept the market sentiment cautious. Traders are awaiting palm oil export data from cargo surveyor SGS later on Wednesday. In domestic spot market, in absence of demand resellers traded only about 120-150 tonnes of palmolein at Rs 505 (excluding Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and at Rs 508 (excluding Shapur). There was no direct trade with refiners as their prices were higher. Cottonseed oil rose in line with the firm trend at producing centres.
Towards the end of the day, Liberty was quoting palmolein at Rs 511-513, super palmolein at Rs 560 and sunflower refined oil at Rs 800. Ruchi quoted palmolein at Rs 510, soyabean refined oil at Rs 695 and sunflower refined oil at Rs 775. Allana offered palmolein at Rs 510 and super palmolein at Rs 560. In Saurashtra and Rajkot, groundnut oil ruled at Rs 1,920 (Rs 1,920) for a 15-kg
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange, soyabean refined oil’s March contract dropped to Rs 695.30 (Rs 704), April to Rs 686.10 (Rs 694) and May to Rs 685.15 (Rs 691.50).
Malaysia’s crude palm oil’s March contract closed at MYR2,488 (MYR2,534), April at MYR2,504 (MYR2,560) and May at MYR2,522 (MYR2,579) a tonne.
The Bombay Commodity Exchange spot rates (Rs/10 kg): groundnut oil 1,235 (1,240), soya refined oil 695(695), sunflower exp. ref. 710 (710), sunflower ref. 780 (780), rapeseed ref. oil 775 (775), rapeseed expeller ref. 745(745) cottonseed ref. oil 609 (605) and palmolein 507 (507).