Palm oil prices rise on the back of a weaker ringgit and Chicago soyoil strength

After two sessions of losses, Malaysian palm futures edged higher on Monday as a weaker Ringgit made the vegetable oils cheaper for foreign currency holders. Chicago soyoil also provided support. The benchmark?palm-oil contract for March delivery at the Bursa Derivatives exchange gained 21 ringgit (0.53%) to 4,012 Ringgit ($985.75) per metric ton. Last week, the contract fell by 2.42%.

Anilkumar bagani, head of commodity research at Sunvin Group in Mumbai, said that "Bursa Malaysia CPO Futures opened higher this morning following gains in Chicago Soyoil?on Friday, and early Asian hours. This was coupled with a weakened ringgit, and a glimpse of renewed Indian demand today."

He said that the price gains were capped by expectations for higher palm oil stocks in Malaysia at 2025's end.

Malaysian December

Palm oil stocks

A survey released on Monday showed that exports were only marginally up, but the monthly production was strong.

The statistics bureau reported that Indonesia exported 20,85 million tons (by volume) of crude and refined Palm Oil in the period January to November of last year. This was up by 4.32% from the same period the year before. Dalian's most active soyoil contract dropped 0.13% while its palm oil contract fell by 1.44%. Prices of soyoil on the Chicago Board Of Trade rose by 0.22%

As palm oil competes to gain a share of the global vegetable oils' market, it tracks the price changes of competing edible oils. The ringgit (the currency used to trade palm oil) fell by 0.44% in relation to the U.S. Dollar.

India's palm oils imports

Five dealers report that the price of oil fell to a?eight-month minimum in December due to a weaker winter season and refiners increasing their purchases of competing oils like soyoil or sunflower oil.

(source: Reuters)