Malaysia palm oil price under pressure

Lead: Kuala Lumpur, March 7, Reuters Traders said Malaysia's crude palm oil futures lost early gains on Wednesday, as they estimated an increase in palm oil stocks in February "Market prices rose early in the trading day due to higher soybean oil prices," said one trader But prices fell later as Ivan Wong released negative data " Ivan Wong, a private forecaster, estimated that Malaysian palm oil production in February was 775000 tons, 17% lower than that in January They claim Ivan Wong expects palm oil stocks to be 1.27 million tons by the end of June, compared with the official estimate of 1.25 million tons by the end of January The export volume in February is estimated to be 670000 tons, lower than the official estimate of 827454 tons in January In the third month of closing, the benchmark may contract rose 1 ringgit to 1166 ringgit (US $306.84) / ton, with the highest transaction price reaching 1175 ringgit / ton, only slightly higher than the key support level of 1173 ringgit / ton, with a large volume of 2098 transactions Traders are expected to hold a meeting on edible oil in the Malaysian capital from March 6 to 8 The market will be in a downturn, focusing on the demand for palm oil in China, Europe and India Traders say China will use its import quota for palm oil this year, but the timing of purchases and the amount of Chinese imports remain a mystery "The market talks about two-thirds of the quota will be imported by private trade and the rest by state-owned enterprises," said a Malaysian trader He added: "state-owned enterprises are close to informing that they will not import until the end of this year because China is harvesting rapeseed The government does not want the domestic market to collapse " In February, China announced a total import quota of 2.4 million tons of palm oil in 2002, up from 1.4 million tons last year RBD palm oil is expected to be purchased in China Mainly used in the instant noodle industry, imported from Malaysia and Indonesia But this week the government said it had not yet granted trading companies import quotas for agricultural products, including wheat, corn and cooking oil, which could be delayed beyond the March 5 threshold The delay is likely to be critical for Malaysia and Indonesia as Chinese buyers cannot import cooking oil without a government license "Even China's leading traders are not sure when they will get a license," said one In 2000, China purchased 1.02 million tons of Malaysian palm oil, which is higher than the import volume of 800.135 tons in 1999 In the palm oil spot market, in March, the contract offer price in the South and central regions was 1150 ringgit / ton, and the offer price was 1160 ringgit / ton It was reported that the transaction price in the South was 1150-1155 ringgit / ton, and that in the middle was 1155 ringgit / ton In April, the offer price for the southern and central regions of the contract was 1170 ringgit / ton, and the offer price was 1160 ringgit / ton No transaction was reported.