Malaysian crude palm oil futures held firm on Thursday on light covering activity, despite softer prices of rival US soyoil. Dealers said a clearer trend was likely to emerge next week after export estimates from cargo surveyors for March 1-25.
At lunch, the benchmark third-month June contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives settled up two ringgit at 1,449 ringgit ($392.52) a tonne. Other traded months ranged from down one ringgit to up two. Volume stood at 2,197 lots of 25 tonnes each, little changed from Wednesday's 2,417 lots. The market typically sees 3,000 lots or more on a busy morning.
"Everyone's waiting for the export numbers to decide where the market is to go," said a trader. "That's the only real lead for now." Slack demand from key Asian importers and a strengthening currency has hit palm oil prices lately. But data showing a pick-up in exports over the last week has lent some support to the market.
Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS), one of the two cargo surveyors watched by the industry, said on Monday Malaysia's palm oil exports for March 1-20 stood at 708,345 tonnes, down 4.8 percent from the 744,152 tonnes it had tracked for February 1-20.
SGS had estimated a sharper fall of 6.8 percent for March 1-15 exports, versus February 1-15. Its next estimate for March 1-25 is due on Monday. Soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade was up at Wednesday's close, with the key May contract rising 0.05 cent to 22.88 cents per lb. But in Thursday's electronic trading during Asian hours, the contract fell 0.10 cent to 22.78 cents. Soyoil and palm oil compete for exports and their prices often move in step.
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