VEGOILS-Palm rises to two-week top on weaker ringgit, slowing output
* Palm reaches 2-week high of 2,327 rgt/T
* U.S. EPA proposal for higher biofuels mandate also
supported
palm - Trader
By Emily Chow
KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures
hit a two-week high in early trade on Thursday, gaining on the
back of a weaker ringgit and expectations of slowing
output.
The benchmark palm oil contract for September delivery
on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.4
percent at 2,323 ringgit ($575.57) a tonne at noon, in line for
a second day of gains.
The contract touched a high of 2,327 ringgit, its strongest
since June 14.
Trading volumes stood at 12,657 lots of 25 tonnes each at
noon. (1FCPO-TOT)
"The ringgit's continuous depreciation and concerns of drops
in June palm production may provide good support and stoke
buying activities," said a Kuala Lumpur based futures trader. A
weaker ringgit usually makes palm oil cheaper for foreign
buyers.
The ringgit, palm's currency of trade, was in line for a
fourth straight day of losses. It fell to its lowest against the
U.S. dollar since Jan. 2 on Thursday, and was last down 0.2
percent at 4.0360 per dollar.
Palm oil output in Indonesia and Malaysia could also decline
in coming weeks due to disruptions in the fruit harvesting
process.
Indonesian smallholder palm farmers have overwhelmed mills
as they rush to sell fruit following a longer-than-usual break
for the Eid public holidays, while Malaysian planters are
struggling with a post-holiday labour shortage.
Another trader added that news of a proposal by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency to set a higher biofuels
blending mandate also lent some support to palm prices.
In other related oils, the Chicago July soybean oil contract
slipped 0.2 percent, while September soybean oil on
China's Dalian Commodity Exchange was up 0.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the Dalian September palm oil contract
rose 1.1 percent.
Palm oil prices track the performance of other edible oils,
as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0446 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL JUL8 2305 +1.00 2305 2305 44
MY PALM OIL AUG8 2323 +9.00 2305 2326 1232
MY PALM OIL SEP8 2323 +8.00 2305 2327 4962
CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP8 4818 +50.00 4766 4822 150724
CHINA SOYOIL SEP8 5566 +22.00 5526 5582 192300
CBOT SOY OIL DEC8 29.62 -0.07 29.52 29.66 2044
INDIA PALM OIL JUN8 644.50 +0.60 643.90 644.9 61
INDIA SOYOIL JUL8 754.7 +0.55 754.2 755 560
NYMEX CRUDE AUG8 72.54 -0.22 72.25 72.68 24913
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 = 4.0360 ringgit)
($1 = 68.9425 Indian rupees)
($1 = 6.6140 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Emily Chow; editing by Richard Pullin)