JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures opened up on Monday, mirroring gains on soyoil and palm oil contracts on the Dalian Commodity Exchange and soyoil prices at Chicago Board of Trade.

Malaysian palm oil futures higher, mirroring soyoil

The benchmark palm oil contract for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange increased 33 ringgit, or 0.79% to 4,227 ringgit ($895.36) a metric ton during the morning trade.

Fundamentals

• The soyoil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange gained 1.22%, while its palm oil contract increased 2.40%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade went up 1.33%.

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

• Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for March rose 20.5% to 1,333,138 metric tons from 1,106,054 metric tons shipped during February, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Sunday.

• Oil prices edged down slightly on Monday, holding on to most of their recent gains amid expectations of tighter supply from OPEC+ cuts, attacks on Russian refineries and upbeat Chinese manufacturing data.

• Weaker crude oil futures make palm a less attractive option for biodiesel feedstock.

• The Malaysian ringgit, palm’s currency of trade, weakened slightly against the dollar. A weaker ringgit makes palm oil more attractive for foreign currency holders.

• Palm oil may break resistance at 4,242 ringgit per metric ton and rise further, as the correction from the March 15 high of 4,327 ringgit seems to have been completed, according to Reuters’ technical analyst Wang Tao.