Palm rises, but posts monthly drop

JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures inched higher on Friday on the back of Dalian edible oils strength, but posted their biggest monthly decline in 10 months due to sluggish exports and a stronger ringgit.

The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange advanced 35 ringgit, or 0.87%, to 4,040 ringgit ($1,039.09) a metric ton at closing after a 1% drop on Thursday.

The contract fell 4.47% in February, its steepest monthly decline since April 2025.

“Bursa Malaysia crude palm oil futures opened gap higher, following a rally in Chicago soy oil futures overnight,” said Anilkumar Bagani, commodity research head at Mumbai-based brokerage Sunvin Group.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract was unchanged after gaining as much as 0.17% earlier in the session, while palm oil gained 0.11%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.03% after a 1.8% gain overnight.

Palm oil tracks the price movements of rival edible oils as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for February 1 to 25 fell 16.1% from a month earlier, according to independent inspection company AmSpec Agri Malaysia. Intertek Testing Services pegged the decline at 12.1%.

The Malaysian ringgit, the contract currency of trade, eased 0.15% against the U.S. dollar, but hovered around its strongest level since April 2018. It strengthened 1.3% against the dollar in February for the seventh consecutive month.

A stronger ringgit makes palm oil more expensive for foreign currency holders.

Palm oil company First Resources said it had paid $5.6 million to the Indonesian government “in connection with the land areas that have been handed over” to the government.

Palm oil may break a resistance at 4,058 ringgit per ton, and bounce into a range of 4,076-4,095 ringgit, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.