Malaysian palm oil price ends higher on gains in crude oil

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures inched up on Thursday, tracking gains in crude markets, but uncertainty over global appetite for the vegetable oil and prospects of a faster-than-expected recovery in weather-hit yields kept prices rangebound.
    An improved view on global crude demand saw oil rise above
$62 a barrel on Thursday after comments from Saudi Arabia's oil
minister lifted Brent futures 5 percent on Wednesday, helping
both Brent and U.S. crude to record their largest percentage
gain in nearly two weeks. 
    Higher oil prices could tempt biodiesel producers to begin
blending palm oil into biofuels again, after the rout in crude
wiped out blending margins. 
    But sluggish exports in February and forecasts by a
Malaysian growers' group for output to rise this month have made
investors cautious against taking big risks in the market.
    "The market has no certainty. People want to see the outlook
for this year, so there's no clear direction for now," said a
trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur. 
    "Prices will be range-trading between 2,200 to 2,300 ringgit
until the palm oil conference," the trader added, referring to a
key industry meeting in Kuala Lumpur next week.    
    The benchmark May contract on the Bursa Malaysia
Derivatives Exchange had gained 1.25 percent to 2,276 ringgit
($635) per tonne. 
    Traded volume stood at 44,048 lots of 25 tonnes each, above
the usual 35,000 lots.
    
    The Malaysian Palm Oil Association, a group of planters, on
Wednesday forecast crude palm oil output in the No.2 grower rose
4.5 percent between Feb. 1-20, lifted by a recovery in
Peninsular Malaysian estates. 
    The unexpected forecast ran counter to trade estimates for a
third month of weaker production after monsoon rains disrupted
harvesting and lowered quality in flood-hit estates. 
    Elsewhere, Malaysia's Sime Darby Bhd, the world's
top palm oil planter by land size, announced on Thursday a 47
percent fall in second-quarter profit, dragged down by weak
commodity prices between October and December. 
    Sime Darby's chief executive added that palm prices are
likely to hover between 2,300 ringgit and 2,500 ringgit per
tonne until June 2015.  
    In competing vegetable oil markets, the most active May
soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange
rose 0.98 percent, while  the U.S. soyoil contract for May
 edged up 0.79 percent.   
    By 1023 GMT, Brent rose 71 cents to 62.34, while U.S. crude
fell 40 cents to 50.59.
 Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1053 GMT
                                                                
 Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
 MY PALM OIL      MAR5    2293   +34.00    2266    2295     919
 MY PALM OIL      APR5    2281   +29.00    2259    2287    6930
 MY PALM OIL      MAY5    2277   +28.00    2256    2284   25537
 CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY5    4962   +46.00    4936    4974  116924
 CHINA SOYOIL     MAY5    5558   +54.00    5512    5570  175304
 CBOT SOY OIL     MAY5   32.15    +0.50   31.81   32.21    6508
 INDIA PALM OIL   FEB5  453.30    +0.50  452.50  453.90     150
 INDIA SOYOIL     APR5  596.30    +3.40  593.90  597.50   17640
 NYMEX CRUDE      APR5   50.54    -0.45   50.31   51.22   53855
                                                                
 Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
 CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
 Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne
 India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg
 Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
 ($1 = 3.5820 ringgit)
($1 = 6.2584 Chinese yuan renminbi)
($1 = 61.7600 Indian rupees)
- Reuters