Palm rises on flooding woes, heads for fourth weekly climb

03 Mar, 2023

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Friday, setting it on course for a fourth straight weekly rise, as rains and floods raised supply worries in the world’s second-largest producer.

The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange advanced 38 ringgit, or 0.88%, to 4,332 ringgit ($968.04) a tonne by the midday break. The contract rose for a third day and hovered near a more than three-month closing high scaled in the previous session.

For the week, palm has risen 3.1% so far. Palm oil is higher on the impact of the weather on logistics given the ongoing precipitation, said Marcello Cultrera, director at commodities consultancy Apricus 8 Pte Ltd in Kuala Lumpur.

Continuous heavy rains and flooding in Malaysia has displaced more than 36,000 across the nation, state media Bernama reported.

India’s edible oil imports are forecast to climb to 15 million tonnes in the year to October 2023, up from 14.15 million tonnes shipped a year ago, Sunvin Group, a vegetable oil brokerage and consultancy firm, said. Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract rose 1.8%, while its palm oil contract gained 1.2%.

Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 0.1%. Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

Palm oil ends at highest since Nov on flooding woes

Palm oil may test a resistance at 4,343 ringgit per tonne, a break above which could open the way towards 4,418-4,459 ringgit range, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.

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