MUMBAI (Dow Jones)--Indian edible oil prices moved up marginally in the week
ended Friday due to emergence of some demand ahead of the festival of Holi next
week, poor availability of soybean for crushing in the major producing regions
and slightly higher Malaysian palm oil prices.

  "Around 60%-70% of the crushing plants have been closed in the major
producing regions and the rest, which are operational, are utilizing only
around 50% of their capacity," said Prakash Manchare, a trader based in the
major producer state of Madhya Pradesh.

  He said total soybean arrivals in Madhya Pradesh on a daily basis were around
75,000 bags of 100 kilograms each compared with the usual arrivals of
150,000-200,000 bags last year.

  "Traders are holding back stocks because they expect some improvement in the
bean prices," said Manchare.

  Also, soybean production is expected to be lower than the 10.7 million metric
tons estimated by the Central Organization for Oil Industry and Trade in
November.

  "Although area is higher this year, yields and oil content have been affected
due to untimely rains. Traders are expecting production at 8.5 million tons,"
said Manchare.

   However, the overall trend is bearish due to arrivals of new rapeseed crop
gathering pace in March and high imports.

  India's edible oil imports in the marketing year that began in November are
expected to rise to more than 6 million tons, from 5.6 million tons the
previous year, B.V. Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors'
Association, told Dow Jones Newswires earlier in the week.

  India imports nearly half of its vegetable oil requirements of 12 million
tons. Hence, slight gains in Malaysian palm oil prices also boosted rates in
domestic market during the week.

  Prices of refined soyoil rose to INR43,800/ton from last week's price of
INR43,000/ton.

  Crude palm oil was at INR28,500/ton, up from INR28,000/ton, while refined,
bleached and deodorized palm olein prices rose to INR33,600 from INR32,600/ton
a week ago.