Indonesia crude palm oil prices rebounded on Wednesday, lifted by gains in the Malaysian market and firm demand, dealers said. In Jakarta, the state marketing centre sold crude palm oil at 8,903 rupiah ($0.971) a kg, up from 8,861 rupiah a kg on Tuesday.
"Gains in Malaysia pushed up local prices, but demand is also strong. We sold out all the palm oil offered today," said an auction official at the centre, which sells palm oil from state plantations.
Producers in North Sumatra's Medan - which is home to Belawan port, the country's key port for palm oil exports - sold crude palm oil at 8,880 rupiah a kg, up from 8,855 rupiah a kg on Tuesday. "Demand started to trickle into the market. Some refiners are back to buy oils although they did not buy much," said a dealer at a plantation firm in Medan.
Malaysian crude palm oil futures edged lower in the morning session on Wednesday on anxieties over swelling stocks, but rebounded towards the end of the day following gains in crude oil and soyoil. The benchmark September contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 9 ringgit to 3,445 ringgit by lunch break. But the contract ended the day up 61 ringgit, at 3,515 ringgit a tonne.
Despite gains in crude palm oil, the price of refined, bleached, deodorised (RBD) palm olein - used as cooking oil - edged lower to 9,100-9,150 rupiah a kg, from 9,200 rupiah a kg on Tuesday. "The Malaysian market has been volatile in the past days. It weakened for two days and then was up today. Producers worry it would fall again tomorrow," said a dealer at a refinery in Jakarta.