KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Thursday to their highest level in a month, as a trucker strike in Argentina threatened to hammer supplies in a global edible oil market that is already squeezed by the Russian-Ukraine conflict.

The benchmark palm oil contract for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed up 159 ringgit, or 2.59%, at 6,294 ringgit ($1,487.94) a tonne. The contract has gained for four out of five sessions.

The overall vegetable oil and grains complex jumped, given the structural demand problem and the supply constraints at destinations and origins, said Marcello Cultrera, institutional sales manager & broker at Phillip Futures in Kuala Lumpur.

Palm oil ends three-day climb on lacklustre export outlook

“Physical buyers are facing increasing challenges sourcing and subscribing feedstock requirements given the past two years of supply chain disruptions, inflation costs and endemic supply shocks,” he added.

Argentine grain-truck drivers, industry groups and government officials failed to make a breakthrough in talks on Wednesday to end a strike, threatening to ‘severely harm’ exporters in the world’s top shipper of processed soy.

India’s palm oil imports jumped 18.7% in March from the previous month, as traders moved to secure alternatives to sunflower oil that can no longer be bought from Ukraine due to the war, a leading trade body said on Wednesday.

Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.4%, extending an overnight gain of 3.5%. Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract rose 1%, while its palm oil contract gained 2.8%.

Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.