Palm oil ends higher on rising exports
SINGAPORE, Sept 10 — Malaysian crude palm oil futures edged up today, buoyed by rising exports, although gains were limited by high stock levels that have risen above 2 million tonnes in the No.2 producer.
The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) reported a 5.8 per cent increase in August palm oil stocks from a month earlier, putting pressure on palm oil futures.
But a report from cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) showing exports rose as much as 30 per cent drove the bulls back into the market and helped palm oil prices close higher, after four straight sessions of losses.
“The SGS numbers were better,” said a palm oil trader based in Singapore. “But MPOB dimmed the mood a bit so the market was not up as much as we expected.”
The benchmark November contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange edged up 0.3 per cent to close at 2,937 ringgit per tonne.
Total traded volume stood at 35,017 lots of 25 tonnes each, much higher than the usual 25,000 lots.
Malaysia’s August palm oil stocks rose to 2,125,214 tonnes from a revised 1,999,066 tonnes in July on high production and beat market expectations of 2.09 million tonnes.
Malaysia’s palm oil exports rose almost 27 per cent for the September 1 to 10 period on higher crude product shipments, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said today.
Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, reported a 30 per cent jump for the same period.
Japan’s weather bureau said today that its climate models indicated the El Nino phenomenon, which brings crop-damaging hot and dry weather to Southeast Asia, was under way and there was a high chance it would last until winter.
In a bullish signal for palm oil, Brent crude climbed towards US$115 (RM357) per barrel today, buoyed by expectations of economic stimulus measures from the United States, despite worse-than-expected Chinese trade data.
In other vegetable oil markets, US soy oil for December delivery rose 0.3 per cent by 1022 GMT (622pm local time). The most active January 2013 soy oil contract on the Dalian Commodity
Exchange closed 0.3 per cent lower. — Reuters
