Palm & Veg Report, OCTOBER 2024

Most shipping markets resemble a sad face emoji at the moment and there is very little data in the marketplace to suggest that we are going to see a rapid improvement in activity any time soon, despite the ongoing issues in the Middle East. Freight rates across all sectors of the edible oil market nudged predictably lower last month in some cases sharply lower and it is reasonable to conclude that the with the US and Chinese economies slowing down that most of the main shipping trade routes around the world will remain on a flat or declining curve for a while. Things could change if Donald Trump prowls the corridors of the White house again, however this looks less of a certainty today than it did six months ago. CPP and chemical export markets have remained stubbornly sluggish over the last few months and the disappointing Chinese oil export quotas released at the end of last month for Q4 did little to restore longer term confidence of an uptick in activity in the Asian CPP trades although at time of writing there have been pockets of activity here and there of late.