Malaysian crude palm oil futures edged 0.6 percent higher in light trade on Monday as players awaited fresh direction from a price outlook conference in Singapore due to begin this week. Gains were limited by low prices of rival soyabean oil and some rushed to sell as contracts neared expiry dates and deliveries loomed.
The benchmark October contract on the Bursar Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled up 15 ringgit, or 0.6 percent, at 2,530 ringgit ($729) per tonne. "Players have been waiting by the sidelines as they want to know where the market is heading, which explains the low trading volumes," said a leading trader.
"From the looks of it, the forecasts might be bullish as exports are bouncing back." At the Singapore International Oils and Oilseeds Conference from August 13 to 15, leading industry analysts such as Dorab Mistry will offer views and give price forecasts.
Other traded months rose between 7 and 19 ringgit while the January 2008 contract was unchanged. Overall trade halved to 6,587 lots of 25 tonnes each from around 12,000 lots that change hands on a routine trading day. "Even though soyabeans have rebounded in electronic trading, soyaoil has remained on the low side, which has depressed palm oil a little," said another trader.
Chicago soya futures rebounded sharply in Asian trade on Monday helped by friendly USDA monthly crop data, following a setback in Chicago on credit jitters. But August soyaoil remained unchanged from Friday, when it had closed 0.60 cent down at 36.28 cents per pound.
Soyaoil and palm oil compete for use in products ranging from cookies and cosmetics to biofuels with their prices often moving in step. Palm oil is around 8 percent off an historic high of 2,764 ringgit due to a slowdown in exports and rising reserves in June.
But demand has picked up in July as buyers across Asia lock in supplies for the festival season, especially for the Muslim holy month of Ramazan and the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival, both due in September.
Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for August 1-10 jumped 15.2 percent to 378,014 tonnes, cargo surveyor Interlake Testing Services said last week. Another surveyor, Society General de Surveillance, said exports in the same period surged 20.1 percent to 374,913 tonnes.
Malaysia's crude palm oil output rose 16.34 percent to 1,356,967 tonnes in July from a revised 1,166,370 tonnes a month earlier, official crop agency Malaysian Palm Oil Board said last week. October palm oil on Singapore's Joint Asian Derivatives Exchange was unthreaded. In the physical market, crude palm oil for August shipment in Malaysia's southern region was quoted at 2,530/2,560 ringgit a tonne. Deals were done between 2,530 and 2,560 ringgit.
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