Malaysian palm oil climbs

Malaysian crude palm oil futures rose more than 2 percent on Monday, tracking an increase in rival soyabean oil prices and supported by a weakening ringgit currency. Traders said palm oil prices were also helped by steady crude oil, which remained well above $75 a barrel.
The benchmark October contract on the Bursar Malaysia Derivatives Exchange finished 53 ringgit, or 2.1 percent, to 2,636 ringgit ($762) per tonne. "Palm oil is getting all the help from soyabean oil gains on Chicago Board of Trade and from the ringgit falling even further today," said a leading trader.
"Crude oil may have gone lower but it is still above $75 a barrel, which has brought the palm biofuels story back to life all over again." Other traded months rose between 43 and 80 ringgit. Overall traded volume shot up to 27,119 lots of 25 tonnes each from 10,000 lots that are usually change on a routine day.
The Malaysian ringgit remained weak on Monday after last week's fall, hovering around 3.460 ringgit per dollar as selling of Asia's high-yielding currencies resumed and tensions in global equity and credit markets remained. A weaker ringgit against the dollar makes ringgit-based palm oil cheaper for overseas buyers.
Soyabean oil futures on the Chicago Board of Trade rose on Friday supported by the $2 per barrel rally in crude oil, which climbed over $77. Soyaoil settled 0.15 cent to 0.27 cent per lb. higher, with August up 0.17 at 36.76 cents. On Monday during the electronic trade, the contract rose more than 1 percent to 37.15 cents a lb.
Oil prices dipped on Monday as investors took profits after US crude prices leapt more than $2 to their second-highest close on record, fuelled by upbeat signals on the US economy and nagging supply worries.
US crude for September delivery fell 29 cents to $76.73 a barrel, eating on Friday's $2.07 or 2.76 percent surge that took oil to just one cent shy of its record-high settlement price of $77.03, marked on July 14, 2006.
London's Brent crude, which lagged the US market with a gain of $1.08 on Friday, fell 23 cents to $76.03. Crude oil often lends support to vegetable oils, including palm and soyabean, because of their growing use in making bodiless, which competes with petroleum diesel.
Exports of palm oil have begun to rise after slow sales in June, as buyers across Asia lock in supplies for festivals such as the Chinese mid-Autumn festival and the Muslim holy month of Ramazan, both due in September.
Palm oil is less than 5 percent off an historic high of 2,764 ringgit reached in June on robust demand from top importers India and China and dwindling supplies at home. October palm oil on Singapore's Joint Asian Derivatives Exchange was up $33.50 at $780 a tonne.
In the physical market, crude palm oil for August shipment in Malaysia's southern region was quoted at 2,725/2,730 ringgit a tonne. Deals were done at 2,720 ringgit a tonne.