There has been severe damage to the Gujarat's Kandla port, one of the main ports in the country that handles edible oils cargo, including exports of castoroil as also the deoiled meals. While several thousand tonne of cargo of imported edible oils, deoiled meals and castoroil lying there is said to have been damaged beyond human consumption, some of the cargoes contracted later on have been diverted to adjoining ports of Bedi, Mundhra and even Mumbai Port.

While the exact quantities of cargoes diverted to other ports were not available, MPT sources say three vessels have been diverted from Kandla to MPT. This includes one each of castoroil for exports (1,000 tonne), imported edible oil (7,000 tn) and deoiled cake for exports (16-17,000 tn).Edible oil traders here say, the prices in Malaysia have been substantially low for quite some time and therefore, have been trying to find higher levels which they say is not too surprising.

According to available information, on the Commodity Exchange (Commex) of Malaysia, the futures quotes of crude palmoil for all the four months deliveries - February to May 2001 - have jumped to $730 per tonne for February 2001 delivery to $813 for May 2001 deliveries from $712 to $787 per tonne respectively on January 29. The rise is said to be ranging between $18 for February 2001 to over $26 for May deliveries from their respective quotes earlier.

Overflooded with imported palmoil, the local prices have crawled marginally by Rs 1-2 per 10 kg to around Rs 198/99 (plus sales tax) from Rs 195.``During January 2001, around 5.5 lakh tonne of edible oils are said to have been imported,'' said a leading vegoil trader. ``Importers having arrangements with Malaysian exporters and local port authorities are diverting their cargo to nearby ports, including Mumbai''.

One of the major reasons for the local vegoil prices to rise is the temporary stoppage of availability of imported cargo from Kandla port.Also, the prices have been all time low in early January and traders are trying to find reasons for higher prices, which has been available temporarily after the earthquake.

Further, the prices of castor oil and imported RBD palmolein showed fresh rise on the Mumbai oilseeds and oils markets. In the edible section, imported RBD palmolein recovered by Rs 2 to Rs 198 from the last close of Rs 196 due to fresh rise in the global prices along with good local buying. Groundnut oil, however, held steady at Rs 305.

In industrial oils, castor oil commercial too showed a smart rise of Rs 4 at Rs 280 against the previous close of Rs 276 due to poor supply. Castorseed bold Madras also rallied to Rs 1,250 from Rs 1,230 per 10 kg.

On the Bombay Oilseeds and Oils Exchange (BOOE) futures castorseed April delivery contract opened higher at Rs 1,252 but declined due to temporary stoppage of export demand and closed at Rs 1,248, showing a moderate fall over the previous close of Rs 1,249.

Castor oil international, prices of February delivery contract eased to Rs 298 from Rs 299.