Palm oil futures gain 1.6pc

Published May 28, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR, May 27: Malaysian crude palm oil futures rose 1.6 per cent on Tuesday, extending five days of gains as soyoil markets started to rally on a mix of weather concerns and strong crude oil prices.

Palm oil’s steady rise over the week was prompted by analysts’ forecasts that it may restart its rally on record crude oil prices.

The vegetable oil, used in products from biofuels to ice-cream, is roughly 16.8 per cent off record highs of 4,486 ringgit in March but has gained 22.3 per cent so far this year.

The benchmark August contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled up 57 ringgit to 3,730 ringgit ($1,151) per ton.

Soyaoil on CBOT and Dalian are giving support to palm oil.

In fact, it’s weather play and rising demand that has bumped up agricultural complexes all over with crude oil in the background, said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage.

Other traded months rose between 3 and 64 ringgit. Traded volumes stood at 8,486 lots of 25 tons each, easing from the usual 10,000 lots.

Unfavourable weather over the last week and in late April across Argentina’s farm belt may hurt the 2007/08 soy crop, but the crop is still expected to total 48 million tons, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said. Soyaoil for July delivery at the Chicago Board of Trade rose 2 per cent while the most-active September contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange jumped 3.5 per cent.

Malaysian crude palm oil prices may resume their rally if record crude oil prices boost demand for alternative fuels, soaking up high stocks, leading industry analysts said last week.

In Malaysia’s physical market, crude palm oil for May shipment in the southern region was quoted at 3,720/3,735 ringgit. Trades were done between 3,710 and 3,735 ringgit a ton.—Reuters

Opinion

Editorial

Syria’s future
Updated 10 Dec, 2024

Syria’s future

Today, HTS — a ‘reformed’ radical outfit once associated with Al Qaeda — is in a position to be the leading power broker in Syria.
Rights in peril
10 Dec, 2024

Rights in peril

IN Pakistan’s fraught landscape of human rights infringements, misery hangs in the air. What makes this year’s...
Learning from AJK
10 Dec, 2024

Learning from AJK

THE recent events in Azad Kashmir are a powerful example of how dialogue can play a constructive role in effectively...
CPEC slowdown
Updated 09 Dec, 2024

CPEC slowdown

Current CPEC slowdown doesn't mean China has lost interest in the connectivity project or in Pakistan.
Madressah bill
09 Dec, 2024

Madressah bill

A CONTROVERSY has been brewing over the Societies Registration (Amendment) Act, 2024, with the JUI-F slamming ...
Protecting varsities
09 Dec, 2024

Protecting varsities

THE recent proposal by the Sindh cabinet to shoehorn in non-PhD bureaucrats as vice chancellors has sparked concern...