Malaysian palm oil futures notched up their biggest daily gain in over a month on Thursday evening, recording a fifth consecutive day of increases and hitting a one-month peak on weaker than forecast output growth. The market was also supported by related vegetable oils, which helped it recoup early losses, said traders at the close.
The benchmark palm oil contract for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 1.7 percent at 2,672 ringgit ($614.82) a tonne by the end of the trading day, its strongest daily gain since April 5. It hit an intraday high of 2,675 ringgit, a high since April 10. Traded volumes stood at 48,557 lots of 25 tonnes each at the end of the trading day.
"The market rose on the production data," said a Kuala Lumpur-based futures trader, referring to data from industry regulator the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) released at the market's midday break on Thursday. The trader added palm prices were later helped by stronger related edible oils on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange. The MPOB data showed April production rose 5.7 percent to 1.55 million tonnes. The growth was below market expectations of an 8.8 percent rise to 1.59 million tonnes, according to a Reuters poll.
The MPOB data also showed end-April inventories rising 3 percent on-month at 1.6 million tonnes, also below forecasts of a 6.2 percent growth. Exports for the full month of April edged up 1.4 percent on-month to 1.28 million tonnes. In other related vegetable oils, soyabean oil on the Chicago Board of Trade was up 1 percent after a previous session of losses, while the September soyabean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 1.4 percent. Meanwhile, the September contract for palm olein was up 2.7 percent. Palm prices are impacted by the movements of its rival oilseed soya, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.
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