Palm oil prices pause after rally to record high

25 Jan, 2022

JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures were unchanged on Tuesday after scaling a record high the day before, amid talks of export restrictions from top producer Indonesia and concerns over January supply from Malaysia.

The benchmark palm oil contract for April delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was at 5,260 ringgit ($1,256.57) a tonne by midday break. In the previous session, the contract hit an all-time high of 5,380 ringgit before reversing course to close 1.18% lower.

"BMD CPO futures were seen trading sideways, in a bid to digest the new Indonesia palm oil export policy and Malaysia's own palm oil supply and demand situation in January," said Anilkumar Bagani, commodity research head at Mumbai-based vegetable oils broker Sunvin Group.

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Indonesia has asked palm oil exporters to get shipment approvals from the trade ministry. The government is also discussing a plan to limit exports of the oil, an industry group said.

Market participants may wait for end-January exports and production data to decide on their next move, a trader in Kuala Lumpur said.

Dalian's most-active soyoil contract and palm oil contract fell 2.60% and 1.94%, respectively, while soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.05%.

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 test a support at 5,174 ringgit per tonne, a break below could open the way towards 5,106 ringgit, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.

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