Speaking on such issue as US president Donald Trump’s ongoing soybean battles, the peculiar recent palm production trends and the free-market use of bio-fuels, he added, “Palm oil output in Indonesia and Malaysia. The palm oil output in the two countries usually follow a similar pattern.”
Sathiya Varqa, co-founder, Palm Oil Analytics, Singapore, spoke about the global palm oil production outlook, highlighting the key factors impacting the palm oil market in 2018. He stated that there was a change in the production of soybean between 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Delivering the welcome address, Kailash Singh, managing director, Tefla’s, said, “Globoil India is now an established annual feature and is keenly looked forward to by the players in the vegetable oil trade and industry. Over the years, this forum has been successful in forging close relationships with various constituents of the international edible oil trade.”
Himanshu Goyal, India sales and alliances leader, IBM Watson Media and Weather, made a presentation titled The weather outlook. He said, “The weather is a game-changer for commodities and price probability.”
Svetlana Sinkovskaya, head, marketing department, APK-Inform Agency, Ukraine, made a presentation on Russia and Ukraine: Competitive environment on the market of sunflower seed and by products. She spoke about sunflower oil production and import growth trends; the current picture of global sunflower oil market; new markets boom demand; trends in main sunflower oil exporters and Ukraine’s sunflower boom.
Thomas Mielke, editor-in-chief, Oil World, Hamburg, Germany, made a presentation on world supply and demand and price outlook of oilmeals for 2018-19. He said, “There are changes in global trade flows. There is soy meal usage in key regions. The importance of soybean is growing worldwide, The world soy crop will be rebound by 39 million tonne and stocks by 18-20 million tonne.”
Ibu Ir Musdhalifah Machmud, deputy minister for food and agriculture and coordinating ministry for economic affairs, Government of Indonesia, was the guest of honour at the the event.
He said, “Palm oil plays an important role in the development of our country. The sector provides jobs to both educated and uneducated people. There is improvement in palm oil production in our country.”
“It is our obligation and duty to take care of this sector for our future generation,” Machmud added, informing that Indonesia had come up with a sustainable certification system for palm oil.
The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India was the chief patron of the event, which witnessed the participation of over 1,500 delegates and about 100 exhibitors.
Besides India, the event witnessed participation, business and ministerial delegations representing such countries and regions as Malaysia, Indonesia, Ukraine, Argentina, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Middle-East and Germany.
Panel discussion
The event also saw a panel discussion on product innovation and changing consumer dynamics. While Manisha Gupta, editor, commodity and currency, CNBC TV 18, was the moderator, the panellists included Hemant Malik, chief executive officer, ITC Foods; Sudhakar Desai, chief executive officer, Emami Agrotech, and Angshu Mallick, chief operating officer, Adani Wilmar Ltd.
Malik said, “The fast-moving consumer goods sector is doing well. The rural market is growing better than the urban one. The biscuit industry is a Rs 32,000-crore market now. The snack market will continue to grow.” Desai stated that the demand for edible oil was increasing.
Mallick said, “Edible oil has witnessed a shift from loose to packaged oil. The demand for value-added products and premium products is increasing. E-commerce can be a challenge, but it also has some benefits.”
