The Edge Markets (07/02/2018) - KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 7): Malaysian palm oil futures rose to a one-week high on Wednesday evening, supported by gains in rival edible oils. 

The benchmark palm oil contract for April delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.6% at 2,485 ringgit (US$636.04) a tonne at the close. It earlier rose as much as 1.6% to 2,510 ringgit, its highest since Jan 30.

Trading volumes stood at 41,943 lots of 25 tonnes each at the end of the trading day.

"The market is up after we saw strong overnight gains in the soybean oil market," said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader.

However, the gains may not be sustained due to weak demand for the tropical oil, he added. 

Malaysian palm oil shipments are forecast to decline 8% in January to 1.31 million tonnes, according to a Reuters poll, while end-stocks are seen rising 0.6% to 2.75 million tonnes.

Output, however, is expected to fall 14.9% to 1.56 million tonnes. 

Palm oil prices are affected by rival edible oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market. 

The March soybean oil contract on the Chicago Board of Trade surged 2% on Tuesday, buoyed by chart-based buying and optimism U.S. lawmakers may soon renew a US$1-per-gallon biodiesel tax credit. It was last up 0.2% on Wednesday.

The gains were also in line with soybean futures, underpinned by dry weather curbing Argentina's crop yields and excessive rains slowing Brazil's harvest.

In other related edible oils, the May soybean oil on the Dalian Commodity Exchange edged up 0.5%, while the Dalian May palm oil contract rose 0.4%.   

Palm oil remains neutral in a range of 2,448-2,520 ringgit per tonne, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.
    
 Palm, soy and crude oil prices as of 1036 GMT

 Contract                      Month     Last      Change    Low    High   Volume
 MY PALM OIL             FEB8      2480      +1.00      2480    2510      254
 MY PALM OIL             MAR8     2486     +11.00    2484    2508     1835
 MY PALM OIL             APR8      2486     +15.00    2483    2510    23303
 CHINA PALM OLEIN  MAY8     5122     +18.00    5086    5142   226956
 CHINA SOYOIL          MAY8     5632     +30.00    5590    5670   291750
 CBOT SOY OIL          MAR8     33.22     +0.06     33.09   33.29    9467
 INDIA PALM OIL        FEB8      572.10   +1.20    571.30  579.9    1109
 INDIA SOYOIL           FEB8      741       +3.30     739.9    742.5    8030
 NYMEX CRUDE        MAR8     63.24     -0.15     63.18    64.18   113515

 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
 
(US$1 = 3.9070 ringgit)
(US$1 = 64.1750 Indian rupees)
(US$1 = 6.2658 Chinese yuan)  

Read more at https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/palm-rises-highest-week-tracking-gains-related-oils