Palm oil tracks soy oil, crude losses

May 12, 2022: Malaysian palm oil futures on Thursday gave up gains from the previous session as rival Chicago soyoil and crude futures fell, although strong early May exports capped losses.

The benchmark palm oil contract FCPOc3 for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 57 ringgit, or 0.88%, to 6,419 ringgit ($1,464.19) a tonne during early trade.

FUNDAMENTALS

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for May 1-10 rose 45.2% from the same week in April, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said on Wednesday. 

Dalian's most-active soyoil contract DBYcv1 rose 1%, while its palm oil contract DCPcv1 gained 0.7%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade BOcv1 were down 0.9%.

Oil prices eased, taking a pause after rising more than 5% in the previous session following new Russian sanctions on some European gas companies. O/R

Weaker crude makes palm a less attractive option for biodiesel feedstock.

Buyers in China are "no longer big bulls" in the commodities markets as they face an economic slowdown while the country chases a zero-COVID policy, edible oil analyst Dorab Mistry said on Wednesday. 

Palm oil may break a resistance at 6,602 ringgit a tonne, and rise to 6,758 ringgit, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said. TECH/C

MARKET NEWS

Stocks fell and the dollar held firm on Thursday as data showed U.S. inflation persistently high, and investors worried about the economic toll of aggressive interest rate hikes to tame it. 

Reuters