- In its investor presentation dated January 2015, Uralkali said that China is likely to return to the fertiliser market this year. Inventory of potash in the country was estimated at 3.5mil tonnes as at end-2014, which was the same as end-2013.

- Uralkali also said that although the outlook for fertiliser demand in South East Asia is positive, there may be limited upside in Malaysia and Indonesia due to the currencies’ depreciation against the USD. Uralkali is one of the largest fertiliser producers in the world.

- Platts said that last week, the price spread between CPO and gasoil hovered at its highest level in 18 months as cheap gas oil kept biodiesel margins weak. The price differential was about US$203/tonne (RM731/tonne).

- Platts also reported that the two largest biodiesel producers in Indonesia are currently running at utilisation rates of less than 50%. Some industry players estimated lower utilisation rates of 30%. The biodiesel producers had contractual agreements with Pertamina.

- In USDA’s (US Department of Agriculture) world agriculture demand and estimates report last week, there were marginal revisions in its forecast of US soybean production and ending inventory. US soybean inventory is forecast at 410mil bushels in 2014/2015F compared with 92mil bushels recorded in 2013/2014.

- US soybean production is expected to climb 18.2% from 3.4bil bushels in 2013/2014 to 4.0bil bushels in 2014/2015F. USDA forecasts soybean prices to range between US$9.45 and US$10.95/bushel in 2014/2015F versus US$9.00 to US$11.00/bushel in 2013/2014.

- Bloomberg reported that India’s palm oil imports declined 3.7% YoY in December 2014, the first time in six months. According to an industry player, inventories of cooking oils in the country had expanded to the equivalent of 38 days of local demand compared with the normal levels of 25 days.

- Also, Oil World said that although soybean production in Brazil may be smaller than expected due to the dry weather, any production loss may be easily absorbed since the carryover inventory of US soybean is large. In contrast to Oil World’s report, Commodity Weather Group said that most of Brazil’s soybean growing region will see increased rains in the next 10 days, leaving less than 15% of crops with dry conditions.

- Finally, Bloomberg reported that European Union (EU) has agreed to let individual countries go their own way on the cultivation of genetically modified crops. The law would accelerate approvals to plant gene-altered seeds made by companies such as Monsanto.

Source: AmeSecurities