• Reuters quoted environmentalists as saying that Indonesia should make its temporary ban on new permits for palm oil plantations, permanent to advance progress on tackling deforestation and meeting its climate goals. The three-year freeze on plantation permits is expected to expire in September. The moratorium sought to prevent forest fires, deforestation and land conflicts, help meet emissions targets set under the Paris climate accord, boost oversight and accelerate efforts to increase yields among smaller palm producers.

• Bloomberg cited India’s Farm Minister Narendra Singh as saying that India will spend 110.4bil rupees to help farmers boost oil palm plantations mainly in the north-eastern region and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The government will ensure guaranteed prices to oil palm farmers. A subsidy of 29,000 rupees per hectare will be provided for expenses related to inputs instead of 12,000 rupees previously. India plans to boost the areas under oil palm to one million hectares by 2025F/2026F from 370,000 hectares presently. CPO output is expected to climb to 1.12mil tonnes by 2025F/2026F and 2.8mil tonnes by 2029F/2030F.

• Biodiesel Magazine reported that US biodiesel production capacity expanded slightly in May. US biodiesel production capacity reached 20.795bil gallons in May, up from 20.777bil gallons in April. Total feedstock consumption was approximately 26.768bil pounds in May, up from 24.296bil pounds in April. A total of 25.136bil pounds of corn went to US biofuel production in May, up from 22.871bil pounds in April. An additional 12mil pounds of sorghum were used to produce biofuel in May.

• Bloomberg cited the CEO of the world’s second largest producer of sugar as saying that the worst weather in decades in Brazil will have a lasting impact on global sweetener prices that are already near four-year highs. Sugar has been rising on concerns that severe frosts and the worst drought in nearly a century in Brazil will lead to significant losses in sugar production. Pierre Santoul, CEO in Brazil of France-based Tereos SCA, said that high sugar prices are expected to last as long as 18 months. Weather woes have triggered downward revisions in Brazil’s centre-south sugar cane production estimates to as low as 490mil tonnes, a 19% decline vs. the previous crop.

• The Solvent Extractors Association of India has released the country’s import and inventory data for the months of July and August 2021. Inventory of edible oils at the various ports in India stood at 585,000 tonnes as at 1 August 2021 compared with 727,000 tonnes as at 1 July 2021 and 765,000 tonnes as at 1 August 2020. Inventory of edible oils at the pipelines stood at 1.11mil tonnes as at 1 August 2021 vs. 1.26mil tonnes as at 1 July 2021 and 770,000 tonnes as at 1 August 2020. India’s imports of palm products fell by 20.7% MoM to 465,606 tonnes in July 2021.

Source: AmInvest Research - 23 Aug 2021