Palm oil heads for second weekly gain

Palm oil may rise for a second weekly advance as shipments from Malaysia expanded and export sales of soybeans, crushed to make a competing oil, gained pace.

May-delivery palm oil climbed as much as 0.6 per cent to RM3,422 (US$1,122) a metric ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange, the highest level for the most-active contract since June 6. It traded little changed at RM3,401 at 12:01 a.m. in Kuala Lumpur. Futures are set to gain 1.5 per cent this week.

Exports from Malaysia, the world’s second-biggest supplier, jumped 37 per cent to 697,804 tons in the first 15 days of March from the same period in February, surveyor Intertek said yesterday. Shipments surged 42 per cent to 701,536 tons, estimated Societe Generale de Surveillance.

“The export data surprised on the upside,” Ker Chung Yang, an analyst at Phillip Futures Pte., said by phone from Singapore.

“There will be some spillover effect from soybeans,” he said.
Exporters in the U.S., the world’s largest grower and shipper of the oilseed, sold 784,000 tons for delivery in the marketing year beginning Sept. 1, compared with 630,800 tons a week earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said yesterday. In Argentina, the third-largest shipper, the transport federation known as FETRA, which represents eight grain producing provinces, called for a strike on March 19.

Soyabeans for May delivery gained as much as 0.2 per cent to US$13.715 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, the highest price for a most-active contract since Sept. 15, before trading at US$13.69. Soyabean oil for the same month dropped 0.3 per cent to 55.32 cents a pound, after gaining 1.2 per cent yesterday.

Palm oil for delivery in September climbed 0.3 per cent to 8,642 yuan ($1,367) a ton on the Dalian Commodity Exchange. Soyabean oil for delivery in the same month rose 0.2 per cent to 9,656 yuan a ton. -- Bloomberg