JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures edged up on Friday, tracking rival oils’ movement in the Dalian market, but were set for a second straight weekly loss.
The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange added 24 ringgit, or 0.54%, to 4,504 ringgit ($1,016.02) a metric ton in early trade.
Malaysian palm oil higher
The futures have lost 1.69% so far this week.
Fundamentals
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Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract gained 1.35% after data on Thursday showed US soyoil exports in January hit a 15-year high. Its palm oil contract added 1.29%, while soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) fell 0.37%.
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Palm oil tracks price movements of rival edible oils as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market.
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Indonesia exported 29.5 million metric tons of palm oil products last year, an 8.3% drop on-year, data released on Thursday by GAPKI, the Indonesia Palm Oil Association, showed.
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Malaysia’s February palm oil inventories are estimated to have fallen to their lowest in nearly three years due to production disruptions caused by floods, a Reuters survey showed.
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Palm oil plantations in two states in Malaysia, the world’s second-biggest producer of the commodity, have been hit by infestations, a minister said, as the country recovers from floods that have disrupted production.
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Oil prices were little changed, but were set for their biggest weekly decline since October 2024 as the uncertainty around US tariff policy is creating concerns about demand growth at the same time major producers are set to increase output.
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Firmer crude oil futures make palm a more attractive option for biodiesel feedstock.
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The ringgit, palm’s currency of trade, weakened 0.2% against the US dollar, making the commodity slightly cheaper for buyers holding foreign currencies.
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Palm oil may climb to 4,557 ringgit per metric ton as it has broken a falling trendline, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.
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