Palm Exceeds 2,700 Ringgit for First Time Since September 2012
Category: Oilseeds
(Bloomberg) – Palm climbed above 2,700 ringgit ($817) for the first time in 17 months on speculation that Indonesia will use more of the oil to make biodiesel and that exports from Malaysia will extend gains.
Palm oil for May delivery advanced 1.3 percent to 2,716 ringgit a metric ton on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, the highest price at close for a most-active contract since September 2012. Futures have risen 27 percent from a three-year low of 2,137 ringgit in July.
PT Pertamina, Indonesia’s state-owned oil company, secured supply of 2.4 million kiloliters of biodiesel, or 45 percent of the total it seeks for 2014-2015, it said on Feb. 16. Shipments from Malaysia rose 32 percent to 606,190 tons in the first 15 days of February from the same period a month earlier, Intertek, a cargo surveyor, said on Feb. 15.
“The Indonesian biodiesel demand story and the export numbers from Malaysia have been very friendly for the market,” said Gnanasekar Thiagarajan, head of trading and hedging strategies at Kaleesuwari Intercontinental Singapore Pte. “Gains in the soybean market are also helping and the expectation is that palm prices will rise further from here.”
Soybean oil for delivery in May advanced 1.4 percent to 40.03 cents a pound on the Chicago Board of Trade. Soybeans gained 0.8 percent to $13.3525 a bushel.
Refined palm oil for May delivery fell 0.2 percent to end at 6,000 yuan ($989) a ton on the Dalian Commodity Exchange. Soybean oil slid 0.4 percent to 6,704 yuan.
