Palm oil on the European vegetable oils market rose sharply on Thursday after Malaysia said it will exempt crude palm oil from export taxes in September and October to reduce stockpiles of the tropical oil after a price fall to five-year lows. "Prices for palm oil jumped substantially on the news and should support the market at least for a while, but Malaysian palm oil stocks are expected to rise quite a bit in August, which could break the momentum," one broker said.
Palm oil was offered between $15 and $22.50 a tonne higher than Wednesday after Malaysian palm oil futures rose between 21 and 55 ringgit per tonne. This was due to strong end-user demand pushing prices up ahead of the export tax exemption announcement in Malaysia. The announcement was made after the market closed. At 1730 GMT CBOT soyaoil futures were between 0.20 and 0.24 cents per lb up on technical buying, boosted by gains in rival palm oil. Weaker CBOT soyabeans, due to expectations of a record US harvest and lower mineral oil values, limited gains.
EU rapeoil was offered between 2 and 6 euros per tonne up from Wednesday, tracking CBOT soyaoil and following steadier rapeseed futures as a dip in the euro versus the dollar supported euro-priced products. Coconut oil rallied unexpectedly and was offered as much as $150 a tonne up from Wednesday. Dealers believed only a few sellers were pushing prices up, while buyers were somewhere at $100 under sellers' expectations and no business was seen. Palmkernel oil was quoted between $40 and $50 a tonne up from Wednesday, mostly tracking strong palm oil.