KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Friday, heading for a weekly gain, as investors awaited data from the country's palm oil board that is expected to show a decline in end-November inventories.
The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 21 ringgit, or 0.44%, to 4,799 ringgit ($1,138.01) a tonne during early trade. It fell 0.42% during overnight trade.
Palm has gained 3.3% this week, snapping a two-week decline.
Fundamentals
Cargo surveyors and the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) are scheduled to release supply and demand data later in the day.
- The Malaysian Palm Oil Association on Monday estimated production in November to decline 4.74% from the month before, raising concerns that a fall may further shrink inventories.
A Reuters poll last week, however, pegged November production to rise 1% from the previous month to 1.74 million tonnes.
- Malaysia's palm oil producers are racing to adjust to an acute shortage of workers due to the coronavirus and sharply higher costs of recruitment as they make changes in response to accusations of forced labour.
Dalian's most-active soyoil contract fell 0.6%, while its palm oil contract lost 0.6%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.4%.
Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.
Palm oil may fall into a range of 4,625-4,676 ringgit per tonne, as a downtrend from 5,220 ringgit could have resumed, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.
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