Malaysian palm oil futures closed higher on Tuesday, tracking firm crude oil but an absence of fresh leads capped gains. The benchmark June crude palm oil future on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 21 ringgit or 0.82 percent, at 2,591 ringgit ($780.89) per tonne. Overall trade volume stood at 11,742 lots of 25 tonnes each.
Players were looking for fresh leads from the export number for March 1-25, as well as watching for data on production, traders said. "We still keen to see if there is any pick up (in production) for the second half of the month," another trader in a local brokerage in Kuala Lumpur said.
Crude oil steadied below $82 a barrel on Tuesday, supported by stronger stock markets, but under pressure as the dollar firmed ahead of a European Union summit to discuss Greece's debt crisis. A rally in US soybean futures stalled on Tuesday after hitting a one-month high the previous session as South American supplies continue to come into the market and the dollar gained.
US soyoil for July delivery on the Chicago Board of Trade inched down 0.33 percent in Asian hours Tuesday. In China, the most active September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.13 percent.
INDONESIA PALM TRADES In Indonesia, Jakarta-based PT KBN Nusantara, formerly known as the state marketing centre, sold 5,000 tonnes of crude palm oil at a top price of 7,489 rupiah ($0.822) per kg, against 7,470 rupiah on Monday.
Producers in Medan, home to Indonesia's main palm oil export port of Belawan, sold crude palm oil at between 7,454-7,511 rupiah per kg. Producers did not hold any palm oil tenders on Monday. Refiners in Jakarta offered refined, bleached, deodorised (RBD) palm olein, used as cooking oil, at 7,800 rupiah per kg, down from 7,850 rupiah per kg from Monday.