Palm rises to one-week top; gains limited ahead of data release

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose to a one-week high in early trade on Wednesday tracking stronger related edible oils, but pared some gains later in the session as the market traded cautiously ahead of the release of industry data.

Cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance are scheduled to release data for Malaysian exports during the August 1-10 period on Thursday, while the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) is also set to announce inventory, production and export figures for July.

A Reuters poll of nine traders, planters and analysts forecast Malaysian output in July will rise 11 percent to 1.68 million tonnes, leading to a 6.5 percent rise in inventory levels to 1.63 million tonnes. Exports are seen up 4 percent to 1.43 million tonnes.

The benchmark palm oil contract for October delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.1 percent to 2,632 ringgit ($614.09) at the midday break. It earlier rose to 2,648 ringgit, its highest since Aug. 1.

Traded volumes stood at 10,130 lots of 25 tonnes each at noon.

"Palm oil is likely to extend prior gains on the back of persistent gains in rival oilseed and China's palm olein," said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur, referring to overnight gains in soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade.

"The market however may trade cautiously ahead of the MPOB data and first ten days' exports estimates from cargo surveyors."

Palm oil production typically picks up in the second half of the year in line with seasonal trends, but uncertainty remains over the extent of its gains as palm trees are still seeing the lingering effects of a crop-damaging El Nino.

The October soybean oil contract on the Chicago Board of Trade, which gained 0.8 percent on Tuesday, was last up 0.03 percent on Wednesday.

The January soybean oil on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 1.1 percent, while the January palm olein contract surged 1.4 percent.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0552 GMT

Contract          Month    Last  Change     Low   High   Volume

MY PALM OIL       AUG7     2626   +2.00    2624   2648      118

MY PALM OIL       SEP7     2621   +4.00    2617   2632      415

MY PALM OIL       OCT7     2632   +3.00    2627   2648     6108

CHINA PALM OLEIN  JAN8     5416  +70.00    5386   5432   430854

CHINA SOYOIL      JAN8     6282  +64.00    6262   6316   298752

CBOT SOY OIL      DEC7    34.31   +0.08   34.22  34.37     3575

INDIA PALM OIL    AUG7   489.00   +1.70  487.50  490.5      599

INDIA SOYOIL      AUG7   642.75   -0.15   641.6  644.4     2700

NYMEX CRUDE       SEP7    49.02   -0.15   48.90  49.09    25982

Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne

CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound

Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne

India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg

Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel