BEIJING: India may overtake China as the world’s top importer of
vegetable oil.
Growth in the two nations’ consumption will drive
global demand for palm and soybean oil, according to Cofco Ltd, China’s
biggest grain trader.
Colder temperatures in China may curb the
country’s consumption of the tropical palm oil this year, Deng Ruihong,
deputy general manager of research at the state-owned company, said in
slides to be delivered here today .
Palm oil is harder to
transport in colder climates.
Prices of crude oil at about US$80 per barrel (US$1 = RM3.19) also
support prices of vegetable oil, Deng said in his presentation, to be
given at a conference organised by China Cereals and Oils Business Net.
Malaysia crude palm oil futures closed broadly higher on Friday. The
benchmark June contract jumped 3.8 per cent to RM2,594 a tonne.
India, the world’s top cooking oil importer, mainly buys palm oils
from Indonesia, Malaysia, and small quantity of soyaoil from Brazil and
Argentina.
In 2009, India bought a record 8.4 million tonnes of
cooking oil and reclaimed the top importer slot from China after six
years. – Bloomberg
Source : Business Times
