Malaysian palm oil futures rose slightly at the close of trade on Wednesday, their fifth consecutive day of gains, tracking stronger soyaoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). Palm was down earlier on the announcement of a US decision to impose duties on biodiesel imports from Indonesia and Argentina. The US Commerce Department on Tuesday made a preliminary finding that imports of biodiesel from the countries were subsidized, a US industry lobby group said.
The benchmark palm oil contract for November delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.04 percent at 2,738 ringgit ($640.02) by the end of trading. Traded volumes stood at 69,601 lots of 25 tonnes each on Wednesday evening. Palm oil may stabilise in a support zone of 2,721-2,730 ringgit per tonne, and then resume its uptrend, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.
In related vegetable oils, the October soyabean oil contract on the Chicago Board of Trade rose as much as 1.9 percent, while the January soyabean oil on the Dalian Commodity Exchange gained up to 1.2 percent. The January palm olein contract on Dalian climbed as much as 0.6 percent. Palm oil prices are impacted by the movements in related edible oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.