Palm oil on the European vegetable oils market was offered in a tight range on Thursday following barely changed Malaysian palm oil futures with a strong ringgit the dominant factor. "A strong ringgit makes palm oil more expensive for foreign buyers and thus underpinned prices on the European cash market. On the other hand that same strong ringgit could dampen demand, which pulls prices down," one broker said.
Palm oil was mostly offered between $2.50 a tonne up and $5 down from Wednesday after Malaysian palm oil futures closed between four and 10 ringgit per tonne down and eight ringgit up on continued concerns that the strong ringgit could slow export demand. At 1630 GMT CBOT soyoil futures were between 0.16 and 0.24 cents per lb higher on technical buying, while gains were limited by weaker energy markets.
EU rapeoil was offered between two euros per tonne up for old crop positions and two euros higher for new crop contracts, supported by the firmer trend in Chicago and a stronger dollar, which underpins prices quoted in euros. Weaker rapeseed futures, on the back of technical selling and a slightly weaker tone in CBOT soybeans, limited gains.