Edible oil surges on global factors

May 09May 27 Groundnut oil63.567.56.3 Refined soya oil57.562.58.7 Refined palmolein oil54.857.44.74 Refined sunflower oil64.572.512.4 Expeller mustard oil53.861.514.31

• Since May 9, prices have perked up by around 15 per cent in the retail market because of high indicative futures prices on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBoT)
• The Argentinian palm and soybean farmers are agitated over the recent imposition of price-based variable export tax on edible oil than a fixed 35 per cent levied earlier
• China has also reportedly started building soybean inventory in the aftermath of the recent earthquake

 Edible oil, with a weightage of 2.76 per cent in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), affects consumers directly. Edible oil prices have surged above 25 per cent in the last one year.  The Argentinian palm and soybean farmers are agitated over the recent imposition of price-based variable export tax on edible oil than a fixed 35 per cent levied earlier. Under the new arrangement, with a rise in edible oil prices, the duty could rise beyond 40 per cent.  The market is anticipating a further rise in prices in coming days due to the failure of talks between the government and farmers there, said Amol Tilak, an analyst with Kotak Commodity Services.  The July soybean contracts were up 44-1/4 cents at $13.69 a bushel on Friday. The July soyoil was 2 cents higher at 63.83 cents per pound and July soymeal was up $7.80 at $335.80 per tonne. Apparently, the impact of the long-running conflict was reflected in a 6 per cent drop in the country's soy crush in April, data overnight showed.  Further, China has reportedly started building soybean inventory in the aftermath of the recent earthquake. According to market sources, the country is likely to slash import duty on the commodity from the current 9 per cent to 3-3.5 per cent soon. Most importantly, mustard seed arrivals in mandis have been hit badly with Gujjar's agitation enveloping Rajasthan.  A persistent demand for mustard seed from millers amid low arrivals and a rise in soybean prices will continue to fuel mustard seed prices. Post-Budget, the government slashed import duty by 45 per cent to "nil" on crude edible oil and 7.5 per cent on refined oil.  "With imports representing over 40 per cent of the aggregate vegoil consumption of nearly 13 million tonnes, the domestic market is surely a subject to global influences. At the same time, the size of India's imports