Palm Oil Developments No.39 (Dec 2003) p30-32

Prices of Selected Oils and Fats in 2003

RAMLI Abdullah

The market for selected oils and fats has been bullish since 2001 as the prices of these oils and fats gradually accelerated until 2003. The average price of refined bleached deodorized (RBD) palm olein increased from US$ 317 t-1 in 2001 to US$ 485 t-1 in 2003 (January-November) (Table 1). The palm kernel oil price averaged US$ 308 t-1 in 2001 and indicated a higher average of US$ 447 t-1 in 2003. The RBD palm stearin price also indicated the same increasing trend during the period. Other oils and fats in Table 1 also accelerated in the same direction. For instance, the soyabean oil price increased from US$ 354 t-1 to US$ 546 t-1 while the cottonseed oil price from US$ 414 t-1 to US$ 903 t-1 in the same period. The prices of coconut oil and tallow averaged out to almost the same amount in 2003 after increasing from US$ 318 t-1 and from US$ 324 t-1 respectively, in 2001. It can be seen that among these oils and fats, only the price of cottonseed oil had surged up significantly at a much faster rate than the other oils and fats to become the most expensive commodity in the market at US$ 903 t-1 in 2003 (Figure 1). Cottonseed oil also broke its own record for the past 13 years, as it had never reached this price before (Table 1).



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