NEW DELHI: Palm oil purchases by India probably rose for a ninth month as traders and processors increased shipments to meet an expected surge in demand during festivals.
Imports jumped 15% to 800,000 tonnes in September from a year earlier, according to the median of estimates from five processors and brokers compiled by Bloomberg. Total vegetable oil purchases, including those for industrial use, climbed 11% to 1.16 million tonnes, the survey shows.
Record Indian purchases may help trim stockpiles in Indonesia and Malaysia and further fuel a rally in prices amid the strongest El Nino in almost two decades.
The world’s most-used edible oil surged into a bull market in September after entering a bear market just a month earlier helped by a weak Malaysian currency and a strengthening El Nino.
“Everybody expected global prices to rise and increased purchases,” Ashok Sethia, a director at Sethia Oils Ltd, said by phone from Kolkata. – Bloomberg
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