Palm oil futures rose to a near two-week high on Monday, as weekend floods in No 2 producer Malaysia raised fears about supply disruptions and hopes grew that a crucial eurozone summit this week may reveal a plan to solve the region's debt crisis.
Prices of the edible oil have fallen 18 percent so far this year due to the debt crises in the United States and Europe that threaten to stall economic growth and commodity demand. Concerns about erratic weather curbing production, however, have limited losses.
"It will be an interesting week for palm oil," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage. "The short-term focus is the supply disruption arising from floods and the long-term view will be coloured by the success of this eurozone meeting." The benchmark February palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose as much as 2.3 percent at 3,133 ringgit ($1,000) per tonne - the highest since November 24.
The contract later settled at 3,122 ringgit per tonne. Overall traded volumes stood at 29,689 lots of 25 tonnes each, much higher than the usual 25,000 lots as more investors took up positions. Heavy rains over the weekend triggered floods in some areas of Malaysia's Perak state and the Sarawak region in Borneo island that together account for about 10 to 15 percent of national palm oil production.
"There has been no reports so far of supply disruptions or access roads to plantations getting cut off. So far, so good but we will have to wait and see," said a planter in Sarawak. The Malaysian weather office said heavy rains were expected to continue in Pahang, a key oil palm growing region, until later on Monday. The unfavourable weather comes as traders look for cues on November palm oil production, which they say could show a 15 to 18 percent decline. The Malaysian Palm Oil Board issues palm oil stocks, production and export data next Monday.
On the demand side, exports are likely to slow down in December as most Chinese traders have pre-booked their cargoes for the first quarter of 2012. Slower demand is going to give some breathing space for stocks that will come under pressure from weak output, analysts said. Brent crude climbed above $110 on Monday as mounting tensions between Iran and the West increased the risk of crude shipments being disrupted from the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, supporting other edible oils used in competing biofuel.
US soyoil for December delivery inched up 0.5 percent as dry weather in Brazil increased supply concerns although gains were limited by prospects of a big South American crop owing to huge planting areas. China's most active May 2012 soybean oil contract rose 0.8 percent.