Palm rebounds from four-month low

JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Tuesday, recovering from a near four-month low hit in the previous session, after a sharp fall last week.

The benchmark palm oil contract for January delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 29 ringgit, or 0.7%, to 4,144 ringgit ($981.06) a metric ton at the close.

Palm oil futures are finding a reprieve after continuing production in Malaysia and profit-taking by traders fueled a sharp drop last week, said Sandeep Singh, director of The Farm Trade, a Kuala Lumpur-based consulting and trading firm.

Malaysia’s palm oil inventories are forecast to climb to a two-year high in October, driven by a surge in production to the highest level in seven years, outpacing export demand. Palm oil stocks are expected to surge 3.5% in October to 2.44 million metric tons, their highest since October 2023.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract traded flat, while its palm oil contract shed 0.85%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) lost 0.38%.

Palm oil tracks price movements of rival edible oils as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market.

India’s palm oil imports in October fell to a five-month low, dragging total purchases in the 2024/25 marketing year to their lowest in five years, as buyers switched to soyoil after a rally in palm oil prices, according to five dealers.

Indonesia exported 17.58 million tons of crude and refined palm oil in the January-to-September period, up 11.62% from the same period last year, the statistics bureau said on Monday.

The ringgit palm’s currency of trade, strengthened slightly, 0.05% against the dollar, making palm oil a little less attractive to buyers holding foreign currencies.