Palm oil rises for fourth day on better demand outlook

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures ticked up for a fourth straight session on Tuesday, lifted by hopes of an improvement in demand and concerns around tightening supplies.

The benchmark palm oil contract for November delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 5 ringgit, or 0.12%, to 4,336 ringgit ($1,046.08) a tonne during early trade.

FUNDAMENTALS

• Malaysia's palm oil board cut its outlook for the nation's 2021 crude palm oil production to 18 million tonnes, compared with its earlier forecast of 19.7 million tonnes.

Palm oil hits 10-day closing high

• Refinitiv Commodities Research said the market is supported by tight supplies as industry data showed Sept. 1-5 output fell 24.74% from the same period in August.

  • Palm oil shipments from Malaysia are seen higher in the first five days of September, and a more attractive tax structure compared to rival Indonesia is also expected to spur demand further, Refinitiv said in a note.

• A Reuters poll last week, however, showed Malaysia's end-August palm oil inventories jumped 16.3% from the month before, while production rose 11.2%.

• Dalian's most-active soyoil contract fell 0.11%, while its palm oil contract eased 0.02%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 0.14%.

• Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.