Malaysian palm oil futures inched up on Thursday, tracking gains in crude markets, but uncertainty over global appetite for the vegetable oil and prospects of a faster-than-expected recovery in weather-hit yields kept prices rangebound. An improved view on global crude demand saw oil rise above $62 a barrel on Thursday after comments from Saudi Arabia's oil minister lifted Brent futures 5 percent on Wednesday, helping both Brent and US crude to record their largest percentage gain in nearly two weeks.
Higher oil prices could tempt biodiesel producers to begin blending palm oil into biofuels again, after the rout in crude wiped out blending margins. But sluggish exports in February and forecasts by a Malaysian growers' group for output to rise this month have made investors cautious against taking big risks in the market.
"The market has no certainty. People want to see the outlook for this year, so there's no clear direction for now," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur. "Prices will be range-trading between 2,200 to 2,300 ringgit until the palm oil conference," the trader added, referring to a key industry meeting in Kuala Lumpur next week.
The benchmark May contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had gained 1.25 percent to 2,276 ringgit ($635) per tonne. Traded volume stood at 44,048 lots of 25 tonnes each, above the usual 35,000 lots. The Malaysian Palm Oil Association, a group of planters, on Wednesday forecast crude palm oil output in the No 2 grower rose 4.5 percent between February 1-20, lifted by a recovery in Peninsular Malaysian estates.
The unexpected forecast ran counter to trade estimates for a third month of weaker production after monsoon rains disrupted harvesting and lowered quality in flood-hit estates. Elsewhere, Malaysia's Sime Darby Bhd, the world's top palm oil planter by land size, announced on Thursday a 47 percent fall in second-quarter profit, dragged down by weak commodity prices between October and December.
Sime Darby's chief executive added that palm prices are likely to hover between 2,300 ringgit and 2,500 ringgit per tonne until June 2015. In competing vegetable oil markets, the most active May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.98 percent, while the US soyoil contract for May edged up 0.79 percent.
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