Malaysian palm oil futures edged up on Tuesday, coming off a more than one-week low hit earlier as higher overseas sales underpinned prices. Benchmark palm oil futures for November on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 1.4 percent to 2,578 ringgit ($641) per tonne. Prices hit 2,522 ringgit earlier in the session, the lowest since August 12.
Traded volumes stood at 37,833 lots of 25 tonnes each at the close of trade, lower than the 2015 average of 44,600. "Exports are consistently good," said a trader from Kuala Lumpur, though adding that the market was waiting on concrete news before seeing a clearer direction, as palm's movement has been volatile in the past week. Palm oil shipments from Malaysia, the world's second largest producer after Indonesia, grew between 25-27 percent between August 1-20 versus the same period in July, aided by stronger demand from India.
Stronger shipments drove up prices of the tropical oil over the past three consecutive weeks, with futures hitting a 10-week high of 2,668 ringgit last Wednesday and recording its biggest daily gain in over 10 months on the same day. Palm oil is expected to break a resistance at 2,570 ringgits and rise to the next resistance at 2,607 ringgits, said a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals. In related vegetable oils, the Chicago Board of Trade soyabean oil December contract fell 0.2 percent, while the January soyabean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange declined 0.3 percent.