Palm trades sideways on stronger early Feb exports

 February 16, 2022: Malaysian palm oil futures traded sideways early Wednesday as the most active contract rolled over to a new month, underpinned by a surge in early February exports but weighed by weak crude futures.

The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost 7 ringgit, or 0.13%, to 5,467 ringgit ($1,305.71) a tonne by 0303 GMT.

FUNDAMENTALS

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Feb. 1-15 rose between 18.8% and 23.6% from the previous month, rebounding from a dismal performance in January, according to data by cargo surveyors on Tuesday.

India has raised the base import prices of palm oil, soyoil, gold and silver, the government said in a statement late on Tuesday, as prices jumped in the overseas market.

Dalian's most-active soyoil contract fell 0.5%, while its palm oil contract lost 0.3%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.4%.

Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

Palm oil may break a support at 5,359 ringgit per tonne and fall to 5,217 ringgit, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.

MARKET NEWS

Asian shares rallied on Wednesday as fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine this week dissipated after Moscow indicated it was returning some troops to base, delivering investors a measure of relief.

Oil pared some losses in early Asian trading on Wednesday after an over 3% fall the previous day, as investors weighed an easing Russia-Ukraine tension against overall tight global supplies.

Reuters