Palm takes breather after soaring on harsher Indonesian export ban

April 28, 2022: Malaysian palm oil futures ticked down on Thursday after surging in the previous session, as market participants digested top producer Indonesia's latest policy reversal that included a ban on crude and refined grades.

The benchmark palm oil contract FCPOc3 for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 33 ringgit, or 0.47%, to 6,954 ringgit ($1,595.69) a tonne, retreating from a seven-week high scaled earlier in the session.

The contract hit its upper daily price limit of 10% on Wednesday after Indonesia widened the scope of its export ban to include crude palm oil, refined palm oil and used cooking oil, among other palm oil products.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Wednesday that meeting public demand for affordable food takes priority over securing tax and export revenues and that he would lift the ban once domestic needs are met.

* The ban will remove 1.52 million tonnes of palm oil products a month from the global supply, said Sathia Varqa, co-founder of Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics. "Expectation is the ban will be lifted in three weeks."

* Dalian's most-active soyoil contract DBYcv1 rose 1.6%, while its palm oil contract DCPcv1 gained 4%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade BOcv1 extended gains after rallying to a record high in the previous session.

* Palm oil may retest a resistance at 7,107 ringgit a tonne, a break above which could lead to a gain to the range of 7,239-7,419 ringgit, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.

Reuters