Palm climbs to 1-1/2-month high, tracking stronger soyoil

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Monday to their strongest in a month and a half, tracking gains in rival edible oilseed soy on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT).

A stronger export outlook and weaker-than-expected production growth were other factors supporting the positive sentiment, said traders.

The benchmark palm oil contract for January delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 0.8 percent to 2,839 ringgit ($670.21) a tonne on Monday evening, a fourth straight session of gains.

It rose to a high of 2,855 ringgit in its early session, the strongest since Sept. 15.

Traded volumes stood at 34,818 lots of 25 tonnes each at the close of trade.

"The market is up on overseas strength... and technical buying," said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur, referring to soyoil on the CBOT and China's Dalian Commodity Exchange.

Another trader said expectations of rising exports and slowing production growth also underpinned the market.

"Looks like prices will still be supported, with production and exports in focus," he said.

Palm oil shipments from Malaysia is forecast to rise for the full month of October, after seeing gains of over 8 percent between Oct. 1-25 versus the corresponding period in September.

Data from cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance for the full month of October is scheduled for release on Tuesday after 0300 GMT.

Production in Malaysia, the world's second largest producer after Indonesia, slightly fell 1.7 percent on-month in September due to fewer working days. Output is expected to rise in October but gains could be lower than forecast.

In other related edible oils, the December soybean oil contract on the CBOT rose by 0.5 percent, while the January soybean oil contract on the Dalian gained 0.4 percent.

Dalian's January palm olein contract rose as much as 0.9 percent. Palm oil's prices are impacted by movements in related oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.