MARKET DEVELOPMENT
VEGOILS-Palm Falls on Firm Ringgit, Bigger Output Worries
VEGOILS-Palm Falls on Firm Ringgit, Bigger Output Worries
(Updates prices)
* Palm oil to test support at 2,175 ringgit -technicals
* Malaysian March palm output seen rising first time since August
09/04/2015 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures inched down on Wednesday, retreating further from sharp gains made earlier in the week as a firm ringgit and concerns over rising palm supplies stifled buying interest.
Benchmark prices on Monday rose above a 3-week top of 2,250 ringgit, partly fuelled by anticipation Indonesia was close to imposing levies on crude and processed palm oil exports, traders say. The proposal will likely be approved this week, pending President Joko Widodo's signature.
"People jumped the gun. Some took advantage to try and push prices up," said one trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur. "These two days things cooled down a bit because there's no follow-through."
A firm Malaysian currency, in which the palm feedstock is priced, muted buying interest from overseas buyers.
The ringgit was trading at 3.6270 per dollar by 1005 GMT, stronger than the 3.7211 on March 30.
"The strong ringgit also put a dampener on things, because a week before the ringgit was much weaker," the trader added.
The benchmark June contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives dropped 1.8 percent to 2,168 ringgit ($598) a tonne by Wednesday's close, settling at the lower end of the day's trading range between 2,165-2,204 ringgit.
Total traded volume stood at 45,771 lots of 25 tonnes, more than the usual 35,000 lots.
The contract was also weighed by expectations of a strong recovery in Malaysia's crude palm oil production in March and April, after bouts of droughts and monsoon flooding in 2014 stressed trees and hindered fresh fruit growth.
A Reuters poll forecast output in the No.2 grower to surge 18 percent in March from a month ago to 1.32 million tonnes - its first rise since August.
The pick up in output is expected to overtake export sales, and may lead to end-stocks increasing for the first time in four months to 1.75 million tonnes, the poll showed.
In other markets, oil prices fell towards $58 a barrel on Wednesday as industry data showed a larger-than-expected weekly increase in U.S. stockpiles and as Saudi Arabia reported record output in March.
In other vegetable oil markets, the U.S. soyoil May contract fell 0.4 percent in late Asian trade, reversing earlier gains, while the most active September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange lost 0.6 percent.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1018 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL APR5 2160 -34.00 2160 2160 30
MY PALM OIL MAY5 2172 -40.00 2171 2204 2031
MY PALM OIL JUN5 2168 -39.00 2165 2204 26849
CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP5 4714 -24.00 4692 4730 303586
CHINA SOYOIL SEP5 5414 -30.00 5392 5446 364436
CBOT SOY OIL MAY5 30.90 -1.80 30.87 31.09 6966
INDIA PALM OIL APR5 440.00 -1.80 439.30 442.80 466
INDIA SOYOIL APR5 605.45 -0.45 604.50 609.40 8580
NYMEX CRUDE MAY5 52.82 -1.16 52.56 53.23 35363
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 = 3.6270 Malaysian ringgit)
($1 = 6.2032 Chinese yuan)
($1 = 62.27 Indian rupee)
* Palm oil to test support at 2,175 ringgit -technicals
* Malaysian March palm output seen rising first time since August
09/04/2015 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures inched down on Wednesday, retreating further from sharp gains made earlier in the week as a firm ringgit and concerns over rising palm supplies stifled buying interest.
Benchmark prices on Monday rose above a 3-week top of 2,250 ringgit, partly fuelled by anticipation Indonesia was close to imposing levies on crude and processed palm oil exports, traders say. The proposal will likely be approved this week, pending President Joko Widodo's signature.
"People jumped the gun. Some took advantage to try and push prices up," said one trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur. "These two days things cooled down a bit because there's no follow-through."
A firm Malaysian currency, in which the palm feedstock is priced, muted buying interest from overseas buyers.
The ringgit was trading at 3.6270 per dollar by 1005 GMT, stronger than the 3.7211 on March 30.
"The strong ringgit also put a dampener on things, because a week before the ringgit was much weaker," the trader added.
The benchmark June contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives dropped 1.8 percent to 2,168 ringgit ($598) a tonne by Wednesday's close, settling at the lower end of the day's trading range between 2,165-2,204 ringgit.
Total traded volume stood at 45,771 lots of 25 tonnes, more than the usual 35,000 lots.
The contract was also weighed by expectations of a strong recovery in Malaysia's crude palm oil production in March and April, after bouts of droughts and monsoon flooding in 2014 stressed trees and hindered fresh fruit growth.
A Reuters poll forecast output in the No.2 grower to surge 18 percent in March from a month ago to 1.32 million tonnes - its first rise since August.
The pick up in output is expected to overtake export sales, and may lead to end-stocks increasing for the first time in four months to 1.75 million tonnes, the poll showed.
In other markets, oil prices fell towards $58 a barrel on Wednesday as industry data showed a larger-than-expected weekly increase in U.S. stockpiles and as Saudi Arabia reported record output in March.
In other vegetable oil markets, the U.S. soyoil May contract fell 0.4 percent in late Asian trade, reversing earlier gains, while the most active September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange lost 0.6 percent.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1018 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL APR5 2160 -34.00 2160 2160 30
MY PALM OIL MAY5 2172 -40.00 2171 2204 2031
MY PALM OIL JUN5 2168 -39.00 2165 2204 26849
CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP5 4714 -24.00 4692 4730 303586
CHINA SOYOIL SEP5 5414 -30.00 5392 5446 364436
CBOT SOY OIL MAY5 30.90 -1.80 30.87 31.09 6966
INDIA PALM OIL APR5 440.00 -1.80 439.30 442.80 466
INDIA SOYOIL APR5 605.45 -0.45 604.50 609.40 8580
NYMEX CRUDE MAY5 52.82 -1.16 52.56 53.23 35363
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 = 3.6270 Malaysian ringgit)
($1 = 6.2032 Chinese yuan)
($1 = 62.27 Indian rupee)