Brisk demand stimulates rapeseed oil price

In Germany, UFOP reports that asking prices for rapeseed oil recovered considerably over the past few weeks. In contrast, palm oil fell to a multi-year low. German wholesale prices for vegetable oils developed very disparately in the second quarter of 2018.

According to Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft mbH (AMI), recent asking prices for rapeseed oil amounted to EUR 720 per tonne fob Hamburg. This translates to a rise of just about 12 per cent from this year’s mid-April lows. The surge was due to stable demand for biodiesel in the EU-28. In view of expectations for a small 2018 EU rapeseed crop, biodiesel producers were ready to pay significant premiums on rapeseed oil in order to get their hands on the commodity. In contrast, prices asked for palm oil gradually weakened, hitting a three-year low of EUR 493 per tonne cif Rotterdam at the beginning of August. The reason was weaker palm oil prices in Kuala Lumpur which recently fell significantly due to disappointing Malaysian export figures.