Kenya becomes top buyer of Malaysian palm oil, overtaking EU and China

Malaysia’s palm oil exports in June 2025 remained higher than the previous year at 1.26 million tonnes, up from 1.21 million tonnes in June 2024, the Malaysia Palm Oil Council (MPOC) said. In 2022 and 2023, palm oil exports stood at 1.19 million tonnes and 1.17 million tonnes, respectively.

In the first half of 2025, Kenya was the second-largest purchaser of palm oil from Malaysia, ahead of the EU27 at 21,000 tonnes and China at 117,000 tonnes. Kenya accounted for 30% of Malaysia’s total palm oil exports to Africa, with annual imports from Malaysia forecast to reach 1.3 million tonnes.

The document also said that Kenya remained a key growth market, supported by rising domestic consumption, with more than 90% of its palm oil imports used for food purposes.

Malaysian palm oil exports to India have increased significantly, exceeding 250,000 tonnes in both May and June. This positive momentum is expected to continue in the third quarter. India is expected to import around 2.9 million tonnes of palm oil in the third quarter to meet festive season demand, providing further support to prices.

Looking ahead, crude palm oil (CPO) prices are expected to remain stable in the range of 4,100 to 4,300 ringgit per tonne ($970-980) next month, supported by festive demand from India and high soybean oil prices in the US. However, any upside in vegetable oil prices could be limited by ample global supplies of oilseeds, especially soybeans, as there is currently no shortage in the market.

Meanwhile, according to the council, global vegetable oil prices have recovered from a fall earlier this year, thanks to a 19% increase in soybean oil prices since January. This is ahead of the rise in rapeseed oil (6.6%) and palm oil (3.7%), while sunflower oil prices have risen by only 1.7%.

Earlier, the Agroexport think tank noted that palm oil will set the tone for alternative oils in the second half of the summer. Since the beginning of this month, external palm oil prices in Indonesia have risen by $25 per tonne, while Malaysia has seen a more significant increase of $56.

According to OleoScope, on 22/07/2025, the price of palm oil (FOB Malaysia) for delivery in July was $1,029.83/t, which is $12.44/t higher than the previous value from 21/07/2025 ($1,017.39/t)

Tags: Malaysia, palm oil, Kenya