Malaysia crude palm oil futures closed up 1.6 percent on Friday after trading near a five-month high as gains in wheat sparked renewed concern erratic weather could also affect crops like soybean and palm oil, curbing global supplies.
US wheat futures jumped more than 6 percent on Friday, taking weekly gains to around more than 25 percent as Russia's move to temporarily halt grain shipments after drought damaged its wheat crop sparked a buying frenzy. The benchmark October crude palm oil contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivative Exchange settled up 42 ringgit at 2,661 ringgit ($846) a tonne after trading as high as 2,695 ringgit, a level not seen since March 11.
"Agriculture commodities have been shooting up a lot because of weather concern," said a trader in a foreign commodities brokerage firm. "Palm oil market is also very much influenced by firm crude oil and gains in Dalian soyoil market," the trader said.
A Reuters poll on Thursday showed Malaysia's palm oil stocks in July were likely to hit a one-year low as combined domestic and overseas demand outweighed a weak recovery in production. A La Nina event which brings more rains had slowed harvesting and weakened palm oil producing Southeast Asia amid good Asian festival demand for the reddish brown oil. Other vegetable oils also gained in Asian hours. US soyoil for September delivery rose 0.19 percent and the most-active May soyoil contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 2.35 percent.
INDONESIA PALM TRADES: The Jakarta-based PT KBN Nusantara, formerly known as the state marketing centre, sold 5,000 tonnes of crude palm oil in an auction on Thursday with the top price at 8,122 rupiah ($0.909) per kg, against 7,915 rupiah per kg on the previous day.
Producers in Medan, home to Indonesia's main palm oil export port of Belawan in Sumatra island, did not hold any palm oil auction. Refiners in Jakarta offered refined, bleached, deodorised (RBD) palm olein - used as cooking oil - at 8,500 rupiah per kg, rising from 8,350 rupiah per kg on Thursday.