Malaysian palm oil ends higher

Malaysian crude palm oil (CPO) futures rebounded from four-week lows on Tuesday on talk that big buyer China was poised to take more palm oil than soyaoil for its approaching summer.
Speculation that Malaysian palm oil exports could be better in the first half of April compared with the same period of March also spurred the market, dealers said.
The Malaysia Derivatives Exchange's (MDEX's) third-month CPO contract, June, returned to the 1,900-ringgit territory by closing 28 ringgit up at 1,912 ringgit ($503.16) a tonne.
The benchmark contract was down 31 ringgit a day ago, touching four-week lows, as it tried to match a sell-down in soyaoil, its closest rival.
Palm oil and soyaoil compete for the same export markets and their prices often move in step. Palm oil is usually sold at a discount of $80 to $100 to a tonne of soyaoil.
China's appetite for soyaoil from Brazil and Argentina, which boosted global prices to multiyear highs this year, was also expected to wane as it has covered 70 percent of its needs for 2004 with nearly two million tonnes booked, local dealers said.
China was the biggest buyer of Malaysian palm oil for April 1-10, taking 119,622 tonnes out of a total of 347,908 tonnes, shipment estimates show.
As for soyaoil, it bought only 80,000 tonnes for the past 10 days for shipment from May through October, Chinese traders said.
Business in MDEX's CPO futures touched nearly 7,000 lots on Tuesday compared with Monday's 4,950 lots.
Interlake Testing Services and Society General de Surveillance had estimated a shipment of around 464,000 and 501,000 tonnes, respectively, for March 1-15.
In physical trade of Malaysian CPO on Tuesday, the April contract saw bids/offers at 1,975/1,985 ringgit a tonne in the southern region, against on Monday's close of 1,960/1,965. Trade was done at 1,970-1,975.
The April contracts for the central region was bid/offered at 1,970/1,980 ringgit a tonne. Trade was reported at 1,965-1,970.
May saw bids/offers at 1,950/1,970 ringgit a tonne in both the southern and central zones. A trade was reported in the south at 1,950-1,955.
PALM OIL FUTURES:
April (south): 1985.
Open/High/Low: 1876/1912/1873.
Previous closes: 1965.
PALM OIL PHYSICALS:
June (3rd month): 1912.
Previous settlement: 1884.
FUTURES: Benchmark third-month June up 28 ringgit to 1,912 ringgit ($503.16) a tonne.
PHYSICALS: Also up.