Malaysian palm oil futures rose to their highest in two weeks on Monday, tracking gains in soyabeans and rival soybean oil, although caution ahead of export data kept gains in check. China, the world's top soy buyer, will temporarily halt regular state sales of soya from this week as Beijing starts a stockpiling programme for the oilseed, an official think tank said on Monday.
The move came after heavy crush losses and weak demand that prompted Chinese buyers to cancel purchases of some 600,000 tonnes of US soyabeans over the past weeks. Dalian soyabean oil prices rose as analysts said some crushers could use a possible shortage of supply as an excuse to start hiking soy product prices, a move that could benefit competing palm oil.
"Palm oil is just tracking soybean oil's move, and technicals are looking bullish as well," said a dealer with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia. By the close, the benchmark February contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had advanced 1.2 percent to 2,459 ringgit ($804) per tonne, but off the figure of 2,479 ringgit touched earlier, the highest since November 5. Total traded volumes stood at 39,326 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots.
Technicals showed palm oil could rise to 2,588 ringgit per tonne as it has broken above resistance at 2,447 ringgit, Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said. Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for November 1 to 15 fell 0.1 percent to 769,087 tonnes from 769,534 tonnes a month ago, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Friday. Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, reported a drop of 1.2 percent in exports for the same period. Both cargo surveyors will release November 1-20 export data on Tuesday.
US soybeans rose 1 percent on Monday. The gains in soybeans supported US soyoil for December delivery, which climbed 1.2 percent in late Asian trade, while the most active May 2013 soyabean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange closed 0.6 percent higher.
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