Soybean Oil Prices Mixed Despite Bullish Export Sales Data

Soybean oil and palm oil prices were marginally lower on Friday despite robust export sale data for soybean oil. The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Weekly Export Sales report featured a marketing-year high for sales of 88,000 tonnes. Sales of 33,000 tonnes to India and 30,000 tonnes to South Korea accounted for the bulk of the total. It is probably not a coincidence that soybean oil sales were robust during a week when prices rose more than seven percent, given that the soybean oil/palm oil price spread was below 1/2 cent. Given that Indian soybean farmers harvested a larger crop than last year and the spread between soybean oil and palm oil is in the lower end of the historical range, Indian buyers may have substituted soybean oil for palm oil. It is not uncommon for Indian buyers to source soybean oil from the United…