Shipments for first 10 days of October up 4%

13/10/2009 (The Star Online), Petaling Jaya - Crude palm oil (CPO) prices posted gains yesterday mainly on bullish export data for the first 10 days of October.

The benchmark CPO futures contract for December on Bursa Derivatives Exchange closed RM62 higher at RM2,147 per tonne, ignoring the bearish performance of palm oil stocks and rising palm oil stockpiles in the country.

“The higher CPO price yesterday was mainly boosted by the encouraging export figures by independent cargo surveyors and the higher soybean prices on the Chicago Board of Trade last week,” an analyst with a local brokerage said.

He added that many traders were anticipating lower soybean crops in the United States given reports of adverse weather conditions, which would result in higher soybean prices. Palm oil is traditionally traded at a discount of US$100 to US$200 a tonne to soybean.

Independent cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said yesterday exports for the first 10 days of October rose 3.9% to 345,393 tonnes from the same period last month.

Palm oil exports in September had dropped 0.4% to 1.31 million tonnes, the second straight month-on-month decline.

According to MPOB, palm oil stocks in September rose 12% to 1.58 million tonnes from a month earlier – the highest gain in eight months.

The highest stock level was at 1.83 million tonnes recorded in January.

Production in September also climbed 4.1% to 1.56 million tonnes, the second highest on record this year, the board said.

Monthly production reached an all-time high of 1.66 million tonnes in November 2008.