Palm oil rises three weeks in a row on the strength of rival oils
The price of Malaysian palm oils futures rose for the third consecutive week on Friday, as the market recovered from a three day slide. This was helped by the overnight strength in Chicago soybean oil and Dalian edible oils during Asian hours. Strong exports and marginal production growth also added to support.
The benchmark palm-oil contract for delivery in November on the Bursa Derivatives Exchange rose 71 ringgit or 1.59% to 4,531 Ringgit ($1,072.43) per metric ton.
The contract rose 1.32% in value for the week.
"Our production is a bit low in August." "Preliminary figures are showing a marginal growth of 2-3% and exports for August and Septembre will be robust," said Paramalingam Supramaniam at Selangor brokerage Pelindung Bestari.
Dalian's palm oil contract, which is the most active contract, gained 0.4% while soyoil rose by 0.64%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 0.02%, after rising 4.73% the previous session.
As palm oil competes to gain a share in the global vegetable oil market, it tracks the price changes of competing edible oils.
Four sources who have direct knowledge of this matter confirmed that Indian importers bought palm oil for the first-time from Colombia and Guatemala, as producers with surplus stocks offered to sell cargoes on a steep discount.
Data from Intertek Testing Services, a cargo surveyor, and AmSpec Agri Malaysia, an inspection firm and cargo surveyors, showed that exports of palm oil products from Malaysia in the period August 1-20 rose between 13.6% to 17% compared with the same period the previous month.
Two sources familiar with Trump's plans say that the administration will rule as soon as Friday on a backlog of requests for relief from U.S. Biofuel Laws from small oil refiners. However, it will defer a decision as to whether or not larger refiners are required to compensate by increasing their own biofuel blend.
Technical analyst Wang Tao stated that palm oil is neutral between 4,475 and 4,542 ringgits per ton. An escape from this range could indicate a direction.
(source: Reuters)
