Malaysian palm oil futures recovered from a one-month low on Thursday, tracking strength in US soyaoil and snapping two sessions of declines. The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed 0.9 percent higher at 2,264 ringgit ($555.45) a tonne at the end of the trading day. Trading volumes stood at 31,648 lots of 25 tonnes each.
"Palm gained as overseas markets recovered, and also on technical buying," said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader. Palm oil prices are affected by movements in soyaoil, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oil market. Earlier the market fell to an intraday low of 2,234 ringgit, its lowest levels since Jan. 18, on a weaker demand outlook.
Malaysia's palm oil exports from Feb. 1-20 slightly rose 0.03-0.8 percent from a month earlier, AmSpec Agri Malaysia and Intertek Testing Services reported on Wednesday.
Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, however reported that exports fell 4.6 percent in the same period.
In other related oils, the Chicago March soyabean oil contract rose 0.3 percent, while the May soyaoil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange declined 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, the Dalian May palm oil contract declined 1.3 percent.