* Dry weather worries in U.S. Midwest support prices
* Malaysia’s June palm oil exports rise 4.9 pct -ITS
* Palm oil to gain more to 3,155 ringgit -technicals
(Updates prices, adds details)
By Chew Yee Kiat
SINGAPORE, July 2 (Reuters) – Malaysian crude palm oil
futures rose to a one-month high on Monday, driven by stronger
demand outlook for palm oil as a worsening U.S. drought could
further tighten global oilseed supplies.
Market optimism after Europe leaders agreed to shore up the
region’s troubled banks and rising demand ahead of the Muslim
fasting month Ramadan that begins in end July continued to
support prices.
“Palm oil is up in line with the higher external markets on
Friday thanks to the European summit. The persistent hot and dry
weather in the U.S. also pushed prices up,” said a trader with a
foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia.
“Demand is there as we are moving into Ramadan. Demand from
China and India will also pick up because there’s the fear that
prices will rise further.”
By the midday break, benchmark September palm oil futures
on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 1.5
percent to 3,064 ringgit ($968) per tonne. Prices earlier
touched a high of 3,068 ringgit, a level unseen since June 1.
Traded volumes stood at 10,911 lots of 25 tonnes each,
slightly lower than the usual 12,500 lots.
On the technicals front, outlook is bullish as palm oil will
rise more to 3,155 ringgit, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao
based on a wave analysis.
Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday
in a report that U.S. farmers planted far more soybeans than
they originally planned, it failed to ease concerns over a
Midwest drought that has jeopardized a bumper harvest.
Lower soybean stocks for crushing into soybean oil will add
support to palm oil, which is already trading at a discount.
Palm oil demand remains healthy with Malaysian exports for
June rising by about 5 percent compared to a month ago, said
cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services on Saturday.
Another cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance will
issue exports data later in the day.
Brent crude dropped towards $96 a barrel on Monday as weak
factory data from top energy consumer China spurred caution,
after oil prices posted their fourth biggest daily gain on
record in the prior session.
In other vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for July
delivery was almost flat in Asian trade. The most active January
2013 soyoil contract on Dalian commodity exchange is up
1.5 percent after touching its highest since May 11.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0533 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL JUL2 3035 +43.00 3030 3035 8
MY PALM OIL AUG2 3054 +54.00 3037 3057 316
MY PALM OIL SEP2 3064 +44.00 3046 3068 7207
CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN3 8122 +124.00 8096 8224 184802
CHINA SOYOIL JAN3 9654 +158.00 9620 9746 355160
CBOT SOY OIL DEC2 53.22 +0.14 52.96 53.83 6956
NYMEX CRUDE AUG2 83.77 -1.19 83.66 85.05 13603
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
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
($1=3.166 Malaysian ringgit)
(Editing by Himani Sarkar)
