Palm rebounds on stronger rivals, but heads for weekly drop

16 Apr, 2023

JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures rebounded on Friday after two days of sharp declines, helped by stronger rival oils, but were headed for a weekly loss amid expectations of sluggish exports.

The benchmark palm oil contract for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 0.75% to 3,741 ringgit ($853.52) per tonne, after shedding 4.62% in the last two sessions.

Palm has lost 1.40% so far this week.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract rose 0.98%, while its palm oil contract was up 0.91%.

Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were barely changed.

Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

Traders were monitoring exports after cargo surveyor data earlier this week showed shipments of Malaysian palm oil products for April 1-10 fell between 16.2% and 35.6% from a month earlier.

Across Indonesia and Malaysia, which produce 85% of the world’s palm oil, growers are ramping up replanting after a decade of letting estates grow older, an ageing trend that threatens to tighten supply of the commodity that accounts for nearly 60% of global vegetable oil.

Palm oil may bounce more to 3,797 ringgit per tonne, following its stabilisation around a support of 3,671 ringgit, said Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.

Asian shares firmed as Singapore became the latest country to pause its policy tightening and markets became more confident the likely next hike in U.S. rates would be the last this cycle.

Oil prices rose in early Asian trade, after falling 1% in the previous session, as the market weighed supportive supply conditions ahead of the International Energy Agency’s monthly demand outlook.

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