Edible oils remain steady despite poor offtake

With the Malaysian market closed for a holiday, edible oil prices witnessed a steady trend in Mumbai. Most of the oils ruled unchanged despite low need-based retailers' buying, lack of bulk demand and weak reports from producing centres. Resellers dominated the market offering lower rates compared to refineries. Cotton oil and rape seed oil were down by Re 1/10 kg. Palmolein, groundnut oil, soya refined oil were unchanged. Volume was nominal. On Monday, the Malaysian market closed lower on expectation thatpalm-oil exports will fall and investors will book profits, tracking weak global markets. Soyabean futures at Indore NBOT remained weak on Tuesday.

Signing of the free-trade agreement between Malaysia and India will boost the country's palm oil sector, said a Mumbai-based analyst. Malaysia's palm oil stocks are poised to drop further this month after hitting a six-month low in January. Forecasts of record-high soybean production in Brazil are also pulling down markets globally. Global supply of vegetable oil remains tight in the short term. China imported 5.14 million tonnes of soya beans in January, up 26 per cent from the same month last year, the General Administration of Customs said. China's Government sold 92,759 tonnes of rape seed oil, or 93 per cent of the 99,626 tonnes offered from State reserves, at an auction on Tuesday, the State-backed China National Grain and Oil Information Centre said.

Hardly 40-50 tonnes of palmolein was traded in resale at Rs 603-605. There were no buyers for indigenous oils. Reports from producing centres showed weak trend. In Rajkot, groundnut oil sold at Rs 1,165 (Rs 1,165) for telia tin and Rs 755 (Rs 755) for 10-kg loose. In Mumbai, Liberty was quoting palmolein at Rs 619. Ruchi was quoting palmolein at Rs 610-612, soya refined oil at Rs 630 and sunflower refined oil at Rs 700. Allana was quoting palmolein at Rs 617. Soyabean arrivals in Madhya Pradesh were at 75,000-80,000 bags. Groundnut's arrivals at the national level were about 1 lakh bags.

Indore, NBOT soya oil March-11 futures declined sharply to Rs 647 on speculative selling during the day before closing at Rs 648.90 against yesterday's close of Rs 656.30.

Mumbai commodity exchange spot rates (Rs/10 kg): Groundnut oil 765 (765), soya refined oil 630 (630), sunflower exp. ref. 670 (670), sunflower ref. 715 (715), rape seed ref. oil 654 (655), rape seed expeller ref. 624 (625), cotton ref. oil 624 (625) and palmolein 605 (605).

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