Malaysian crude palm oil futures rallied on Wednesday, with the benchmark contract up 2 percent to return to the psychologically-important 1,400 ringgit-a-tonne mark, spurred by a rise in US soyaoil.
A drop in export estimates of oil palm products from a month had no immediate impact.
Dealers said the market was more worried about a crop and trade outlook due on Thursday from private forecaster Ivan Wong. The benchmark third-month January crude palm oil futures contract on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed 29 ringgit up at 1,403 ringgit ($369.21) a tonne. Its peak for the day was 1,406 ringgit.
The January contract was last in the 1,400-ringgit zone on October 15. Other traded contracts closed 22 to 27 ringgits up. Volume was heavy at 7,735 lots of 25 tonnes each.
CBOT soyaoil futures ended up 0.05 cent to 0.58 cent on Tuesday, with the key December contract rising 0.58 cent to 20.67 cents, on light commercial buying and support from a firm close in Malaysian palm oil the previous day.
Society Generale de Surveillance, the main cargo tracker for Malaysian palm oil, said on Wednesday it tracked 804,369 tonnes of oil palm products in the first 20 days of October, down 9.4 percent from the 847,214 tonnes it noted for September 1-20.
But players ignored the lower export numbers, deciding to focus instead on Wong's report for Thursday, which will outline supply and demand from October through January.
"I think people are more concerned about what he has to say than what does today's export numbers are showing," said a trader. Prices of physical crude palm oil also ended up.
Physical oil for both October and November saw buyers/sellers at 1,430/1,435 ringgit a tonne in Malaysia's southern and central regions, versus on Tuesday's close of 1,410/1,415.
Trades were reported at 1,425-1,432.50 ringgit in both regions.
PALM OIL FUTURES:
October (south): 1435
Open/High/Low: 1386/1406/1385
Previous close: 1415
PALM OIL PHYSICALS:
January (third month): 1403
Previous settlement: 1374
FUTURES: Benchmark January back above the psychologically important 1,400-ringgit-a-tonne mark after closing 29 ringgit up at 1,403 ringgit ($369.21).
PHYSICALS: Also up, with asking price for both October and November up 20 ringgit at 1,435 ringgit a tonne.