India oilseeds, soyoil seen higher on demand

MUMBAI | Mon Dec 6, 2010 9:51am IST

Dec 6 (Reuters) - Indian oilseeds and soyoil futures are likely to edge higher on Monday morning on good demand in the physical market and firmness in palm oil, analysts said.

Gains are likely to be capped by profit-taking driven by an expected rise in rapeseed acreage due to higher-than-normal rainfall this year in key growing areas, which raised soil moisture levels, they said.

At 9:43 a.m., Malaysian palm oil futures KPOc3 were up 1.54 percent at 3,570 ringgits per tonne.

The January soybean futures contract NSBF1 on India's National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) ended 0.69 percent up at 2,340.5 rupees per 100 kg.

January soyoil NSOF1 climbed 1.41 percent at 602.1 rupees per 10 kg, while rapeseed for January delivery NRSF1 rose 1.19 percent to 592.05 rupees per 20 kg.

The country's oilmeal exports in October rose 61 percent from a year earlier, its fourth straight monthly gain, due to higher demand from traditional buyers in Japan and China, data from a trade body showed

India November Oilmeal Exports Rise 42% To 492,740 Tons

Dec 6 2010 12:32PM

MUMBAI (Dow Jones)--India's oilmeal exports in November rose 42% to 492,740 metric tons from 346,859 tons a year earlier because of higher soymeal and rapeseed meal shipments, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India said Monday.

Total oilmeal exports during the April-November period grew to about 2.4 million tons from 1.9 million tons, the trade body said.

India exports oilmeal mainly to Southeast Asia.

The following table shows the comparative details:

(All figures in metric tons)

Product Nov 2010 Nov 2009

Oilmeal 492,740 346,859

Soymeal 443,488 297,340

Rapeseed meal 41,604 20,326

Castorseed meal 4,148 23,318

-By Debiprasad Nayak, Dow Jones Newswires; 91-22-61456105; debi.nayak@dowjones.com

INTERVIEW: India Unlikely To Slap Import Tax On Edible Oils -Exec

Dec 2 2010 4:10PM

By Shie-Lynn Lim

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Dow Jones)--India, the world's largest consumer of cooking oil after China, is unlikely to restore import duties on edible oils amid fears such a move could raise domestic food prices, an industry official said Thursday.

"The (Indian) government is keen to keep inflation at lower levels, and won't restore taxes on imports, keeping overseas edible-oils purchases cheaper compared with local oils," Govindlal G. Patel, director of vegetable-oils trading company Dipak Enterprise, told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of a regional palm oil outlook conference.

Market participants have been concerned that expected increases in oilseed production in India in the crop year that started Nov. 1 will spur the government to reimpose import duties, which could hurt palm oil sales.

The Solvent Extractors' Association of India late last month said India should impose taxes of 10% tax on crude palm oil and 17.5% on soyoil. The government scrapped a duty on crude palm oil in 2008 and ended a 20 percent tax on crude soybean oil last year, to boost supplies and cool prices.

India depends on overseas supplies of oils to meet its domestic demand. More than half of its edible-oil demand is met through purchases of palm oil sourced from Malaysia and Indonesia, the world's biggest palm oil producer.

Patel said India's growing consumption amid improved domestic oilseed production may keep edible-oil imports in the marketing year beginning Oct. 1 unchanged at 8.8 million metric tons.

Patel also said palm oil shipments to India may slow this month, as palm oil tends to solidify in cold weather, before sales pick up again from next month.

He said palm oil stocks at Indian ports are currently around 450,000 tons.