Togar Sitanggang, Secretary General of the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (Gapki), said that the export figure in September 2017 was still high compared to the export trend for the entire year. "This shows that the palm oil market is still active because of a lack of supply of other vegetable oils in the global market," Togar said in an official statement, Sunday (12/11).
He said that India and China are still filling their vegetable oil stockpiles domestically, which have started to dwindle, even though this September has seen a decrease in demand, each by 17.5% and 17%, respectively. In terms of volume, imports by both countries, which are Indonesia's main palm oil export destinations, are still high, namely to India by 370,470 tons and to China by 650,750 tons. On the other hand, several other countries that import palm oil from Indonesia recorded a significant increase in demand in September. These countries include the Middle East with an increase of 26% and Pakistan with an increase of 9%.
"Meanwhile, the countries of the European Union only reported an increase in demand in September by 1% from the previous month," Togar explained. Furthermore, Togar assessed that the dwindling palm oil stockpiles in Indonesia and Malaysia have raised global CPO prices.
Throughout September, the global daily price of CPO has ranged from US$687.5 to US$760 per metric ton (MT), with an average price of US$724.9 per MT. This average price increased by 7% when compared to the previous month, which was US$676 per MT. Indonesia's palm oil production (CPO and PKO) throughout September 2017 reached over 4 million tons.
This figure was the highest production of the entire 2017 because it is the annual large harvest cycle. Throughout September, Indonesia's palm oil production was reported at 4.03 million tons or an increase of 2%. The stockpile in this September was reported at 2.92 million tons, or an increase of 8.5% when compared to August's 2.69 million tons.
Source: Media Indonesia
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