MARKET DEVELOPMENT
Malaysian Palm Oil Price Extends Gains on Weak Ringgit, Biodiesel Demand Hopes
Malaysian Palm Oil Price Extends Gains on Weak Ringgit, Biodiesel Demand Hopes
09/03/2016 (The Star) - Malaysian palm oil futures extended gains on Tuesday on a drop in the ringgit and hopes that top producing countries will now use more tropical oil for biodiesel production.
The palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.24 percent at 2,543 ringgit ($620.24) per tonne by midday, after rising 1.2 percent on Monday.
Palm earlier on Tuesday rose to 2,551 ringgit, the highest since Feb. 29.
"It seems Malaysia and Indonesia are determined to increase palm oil blending in biodiesel. It will help in bringing down inventory in coming months," said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader.
Indonesia and Malaysia are the world's top two palm oil producing countries.
Malaysia was confident that it would implement its programme in 2016 for biodiesel to have a bio-content of at least 10 percent, Plantations Minister Douglas Uggah Embas said at a palm oil conference in Kuala Lumpur.
The overnight rally in crude oil prices and a weak ringgit are also supporting palm oil, said another dealer based in Kuala Lumpur.
The Malaysian currency lost 0.4 percent versus the dollar, making the tropical oil, which is priced in the ringgit, cheaper for holders of other currencies.
Oil prices fell on Tuesday on weak Chinese trading data, but Brent remained over $40 a barrel after jumping to 2016 highs the previous day as producers announced talks to support the market and investors opened new bullish bets.
Traded volume stood at 6,993 lots of 25 tonnes each, significantly below the roughly 13,500 lots usually traded by midday.
"Before taking large position traders want to know what industry officials say in palm oil conference," said a
Mumbai-based trader, referring to the conference in Kuala Lumpur from March 7 to March 9.
Palm oil is expected to test resistance at 2,559 ringgit per tonne, a break above which could open the way to the next resistance at 2,580 ringgit, said Wang Tao, Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.
In competing vegetable oil markets, the May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.21 percent, while the Chicago soyoil contract was unchanged.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0549 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL Mar-6 2498 3 2498 2498 7
MY PALM OIL Apr-6 2524 3 2520 2530 65
MY PALM OIL May-6 2543 6 2536 2551 5509
CHINA PALM OLEIN May-6 5120 30 5050 5184 1218464
CHINA SOYOIL May-6 5718 8 5680 5776 535056
CBOT SOY OIL May-6 31.14 0.5 31.03 31.32 3127
INDIA PALM OIL Mar-6 489.4 0.5 486 491.5 229
INDIA SOYOIL Mar-6 609.1 0.5 606 609.5 1860
NYMEX CRUDE Apr-6 37.51 -0.39 37.35 37.99 25020
Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne
India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
($1 = 4.1000 ringgit)
($1 = 67.2875 Indian rupees)
($1 = 6.5067 Chinese yuan)
- Reuters
The palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.24 percent at 2,543 ringgit ($620.24) per tonne by midday, after rising 1.2 percent on Monday.
Palm earlier on Tuesday rose to 2,551 ringgit, the highest since Feb. 29.
"It seems Malaysia and Indonesia are determined to increase palm oil blending in biodiesel. It will help in bringing down inventory in coming months," said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader.
Indonesia and Malaysia are the world's top two palm oil producing countries.
Malaysia was confident that it would implement its programme in 2016 for biodiesel to have a bio-content of at least 10 percent, Plantations Minister Douglas Uggah Embas said at a palm oil conference in Kuala Lumpur.
The overnight rally in crude oil prices and a weak ringgit are also supporting palm oil, said another dealer based in Kuala Lumpur.
The Malaysian currency lost 0.4 percent versus the dollar, making the tropical oil, which is priced in the ringgit, cheaper for holders of other currencies.
Oil prices fell on Tuesday on weak Chinese trading data, but Brent remained over $40 a barrel after jumping to 2016 highs the previous day as producers announced talks to support the market and investors opened new bullish bets.
Traded volume stood at 6,993 lots of 25 tonnes each, significantly below the roughly 13,500 lots usually traded by midday.
"Before taking large position traders want to know what industry officials say in palm oil conference," said a
Mumbai-based trader, referring to the conference in Kuala Lumpur from March 7 to March 9.
Palm oil is expected to test resistance at 2,559 ringgit per tonne, a break above which could open the way to the next resistance at 2,580 ringgit, said Wang Tao, Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.
In competing vegetable oil markets, the May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.21 percent, while the Chicago soyoil contract was unchanged.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0549 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL Mar-6 2498 3 2498 2498 7
MY PALM OIL Apr-6 2524 3 2520 2530 65
MY PALM OIL May-6 2543 6 2536 2551 5509
CHINA PALM OLEIN May-6 5120 30 5050 5184 1218464
CHINA SOYOIL May-6 5718 8 5680 5776 535056
CBOT SOY OIL May-6 31.14 0.5 31.03 31.32 3127
INDIA PALM OIL Mar-6 489.4 0.5 486 491.5 229
INDIA SOYOIL Mar-6 609.1 0.5 606 609.5 1860
NYMEX CRUDE Apr-6 37.51 -0.39 37.35 37.99 25020
Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne
India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
($1 = 4.1000 ringgit)
($1 = 67.2875 Indian rupees)
($1 = 6.5067 Chinese yuan)
- Reuters