Palm oil prices on the European vegetable oils market firmed on Wednesday on worries that dry weather because of the El Nino weather pattern could seriously cut yields. "The tone during the Price Outlook conference in Kuala Lumpur was bullish for palm oil and laurics and production could be well lower," one broker said.
Palm oil was offered at between $2.50 and $12.50 a tonne up after Malaysian palm oil futures closed between 20 and 29 ringgit per tonne higher as leading industry analysts raised concerns over dry weather in key producing countries and forecast a rally in prices in coming months. At 1730 GMT CBOT soyaoil futures were between 0.42 and 0.62 cents per lb higher on the back of strong energy markets and the bullish sentiment in palm oil.
Liquid oils -EU rapeoil, soyaoil and sunoil- were mostly offered between five and six euros per tonne higher, tracking CBOT soyaoil and strong energy markets. Rapeseed futures were barely changed at the end of the day after being slightly firmer earlier. Lauric oils rallied on the expectations of tighter supplies due to El Nino and the rising trend in palm oil. Improved underlying demand and few sellers also underpinned prices, which were offered at between $40 and $50 a tonne up from Thursday.