FAO vegetable-oil price index continued downslide in October

Trends in global vegetable-oil prices were mixed in October.

Whereas palm oil was offered at much lower prices, soybean, rapeseed and sunflower-seed oil saw a slight rise.

The October Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations vegetable-oil price index averaged 120 points.

This was down only 0.7 percent on the previous month but translates to around a 20.7 percent decline on the past year.

Above all, the marginal decline over the previous month reflected the lower bids for palm oil, which more than offset the higher asking prices for soybean, sunflower and rapeseed oil.

In other words, palm-oil prices continued their downward slide in October, which was mainly due to the seasonal production increase in leading palm oil-producing countries and continued dampened global demand.

In contrast, soybean-oil prices rose after having declined for two months running.

According to investigations conducted by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH), support came from healthy demand from the biodiesel sector in the U.S. and South America.

In contrast, October demand for rapeseed oil from biofuel producers was comparatively low in the European Union.

The anticipated impact of the seasonal production of winter biodiesel on demand and prices did not materialize.

Orders were only placed for smaller volumes to cover nearby demand.

According to AMI, the petroleum companies had already stocked up earlier on the volumes required for blending in the fourth quarter.

The FAO cereal-price index averaged 125 points in October.

This was down 1 point on the previous month and as much as 18 percent on a year earlier.

At the same time, all of the main cereal crops saw a decline in prices.