Here is a wrap up of the some of the issues PalmTrack covered in May 2022:
We’ve been updating a lot on the changed political-policy landscape for Indonesian palm oil. Note that the Jokowi administration has been struggling to get cooking oil at the right price to Indonesia consumers for months, toggling between the export-restricting DMO-DPO rules and export duty/levies.
Experts expressed surprise at Indonesia’s intentions to reimpose a domestic sales requirement effective 31 May 2022. CIMB in its agribusiness brief dated 23 May expects the potential impact of the regulation to depend on the new volumes and price obligations set by the government, it is overall still too early to conclude how the DMO will impact the market and/or palm oil players due to the lack of details.
Weather and rainfall: On notable rainfall events (30 days to 11 May 2022), 30 days accumulated rainfall was est. above 500mm in Central and East Kalimantan, where a significant area has within those regions recorded an accumulated rainfall of est. above 500mm. On 13 May, BMKG issued a warning of heavy rainfall accompanied by storms and strong winds for several Indonesian provinces, including Aceh, and West and South Sumatra.
Tankers from Indonesia: Port calls for 25 Apr–8 May 2022 (14 days) count, c.50 palm-related tankers, with sample net tonnage c.295k (versus 14 days to 10 Apr, c.60 tankers with sample net tonnage c.330k). These two weeks (25 Apr–8 May), the share of port calls was higher for European ports; conversely, the share is lower for CIS and American ports (versus 14 days to 10 Apr).
On 7 May, the Indonesian navy seized its third vessel, the Mathu Bhum, after seizing two others, the World Progress and Annabelle, a week earlier. A review of the Mathu Bhum’s movement shows that the vessel was doing unloading/loading operations on 7 May 2022 at Belawan’s container port.
Khor Reports’ PalmTrack is an independent research service that tracks palm tanker movements and reports trade of palm products (and shipments, upon request) for selected trade routes. It features a forward-looking market topic and sharp analysis every quarter, e.g. palm biofuels issues & opportunities for Jan–Mar 2022. Subscribe now!