Crude palm oil futures up 2.8% on strong exports

March 11, 2009 3:00 GMT+8
Crude palm oil rose 2.8 per cent to their highest close in three weeks yesterday, on the back of strong exports and higher soya bean prices, although some late selling took prices off their best, traders said.

The benchmark May contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange climbed RM55, or 2.8 per cent, to RM1,995 per tonne, coming off an intra-day high of RM2,010.
Other traded contracts rose between RM20 and RM45. Overall volume was 13,187 lots of 25 tonnes each. The market’s initial rally yesterday was underpinned by upbeat export data for the first ten days of March and expectations that data due out today would show a drop in palm stocks.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for March 1-10 rose 11.2 per cent to 369,265 tonnes, from 332,081 tonnes shipped between Feb. 1-10, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said yesterday.

Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, said yesterday exports of Malaysian palm oil products for March 1-10 rose 1.2 per cent to 377,306 tonnes from 372,782 tonnes shipped between Feb. 1 and 10. Malaysia’s February palm oil stocks probably tumbled 8.6 per cent to 1.67 million tonnes, their lowest in 16 months, as output slowed further due to flooding in key growing regions, a Reuters poll showed today. A decline in stocks is seen as key for underpinning palm prices as it will ease pressure on the supply side.

In the Malaysian physical market, palm oil for March was traded at RM2,060-RM2,070 per tonne in the southern region, and at RM2,050-RM2,060 per tonne in the central region.