For week ending Mar. 23, 2006

       The Philippines was the major supplier of lauric oil with shipment of 22,090 MT of coconut oil (4,105 MT last year) and was responsible for 42.3% of total. Indonesia was second with 17,730 MT comprising of 14,730 MT of coconut oil (80 MT) and 3,001 MT palm kernel oil (5,000 MT). Malaysia contributed 12,376 MT of which 2,986 MT was coconut oil (62 MT) and 9,391 MT was palm kernel oil (15,359 MT). Respective market shares were 34.0% and 23.7%.

       Import of soybean meal was huge at 441,800 MT, rising appreciably by 47.8% from the previous year total at 298,900 MT. Total U.S. export was 6.501 million MT. The Philippines ranked 4 in the list following after Mexico with 1.402 million MT, Canada with 1.156 million MT, and Japan with 523,500 MT. There was no reported import of soybean oil.

       In another development, the country’s import of edible oils has been predicted to decline this summer following projections for higher oilseed production. According to the Central Organization for Oil Industry and Trade (COOIT), a reduction by 200,000 MT would be possible from year-ago to 4.8 million MT. The trade group anticipates summer oilseed crop to reach 10.27 million MT, a rise from 9.82 million MT in the prior year, which placed annual 05/06 output at 23.62 million MT from 22.18 million MT in 04/05. The country’s yearly consumption of edible oil amounts to 11 million MT of which around 40% comes from imports.

       Slack demand has forced Sri Lankan and Philippine desiccated coconut exporters to cut their prices by around $10-15/MT over the past weeks. Traders in Europe quoted Sri Lankan fine grade of fair average quality (faq) at $940/MT C&F Europe, lower by $10 from $950/MT two weeks ago. Philippine fine and medium grades faq were quoted at between $888 and $890/MT from $900 previously. While demand has remained subdued, supplies have been comfortable enough prompting shippers to effect downward adjustments in prices to stimulate buying, according to traders.

       The change in tariff rates is expected to impact on U.S. soya bean and meal exports this year to the country. Last year, U.S. export of soybean meal to Turkey amounted to 133,371 MT, a sharp rise from 23,688 MT a year earlier. Export of soybeans stood at 477,322 MT, up from 302,091 MT previously. Brazil’s soybean exports likewise may be hit by the new duty structure. In 2005, the country shipped 133,299 MT of soybeans to Turkey, vastly exceeding the prior year total at 42,486 MT. Last year, total soybean import of Turkey was 1.1 million MT while soybean meal was 685,000 MT.

       “Different oils were used to fry chips and extruded snacks in different industrial plants (continuous frying) at temperatures between 170 and 205 degrees C, and peanut oil was used to fry French fries and fish (discontinuous frying) at temperatures between 160 and 185 degrees C. No appreciable difference in PAH load was observed in the same oil before and after frying. Both before and after frying, the benzo (a) pyrene concentration in oils ranged from trace to 0.7ppb”. The researchers’ conclusion: All the analyzed samples, including oils from fried snacks, had benzo (a) pyrene concentrations well below the 2ppb limit recently proposed by the EC.

       France is the second largest producer of biodiesel in the EU following after Germany. By 2008, the country hopes to be producing 3.2 million MT of biofuel from grains and oilseed.

       The Malaysian government is turning to biofuel to address rising crude oil costs. At a campaign to use a blend of 5% palm oil biodiesel and 95% petro diesel (B5), it announced the blend would be used on defense and plantation ministry vehicles. Presently, biodiesel can not be sold commercially in the country since no law has been passed mandating its sale, the minister of plantation industries and commodities, Peter Chin Fah Kui said.

       Jatropha biodiesel was produced for the first time in the United Kingdom by D1 Oils using its proprietary D1 20 refinery in Lancashire. The biodiesel produced from the process meets the European EN14214 standard. China was the source of the crude jatropha oil feedstock used in the process. The D1 20 refinery also processes rapeseed oil, soybean oil, and palm oil feedstocks for biofuel, the company said. Jatropha oil is extracted from the seed of jatropha curcas, a tree that grows in Africa, South East Asia and India.