KUALA LUMPUR (March 21): Malaysian palm oil futures rebounded on Tuesday from a three-day low to chart their strongest daily gain in a week, tracking stronger soyoil prices and supported by forecasts of weaker output.
Benchmark palm oil futures for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 1% to RM2,809 (US$635) a tonne at the end of the trading day, the biggest daily gain since March 15.
The contract earlier fell to an intraday low of RM2,754, its lowest in three days.
Traded volumes stood at 49,508 lots of 25 tonnes each on Tuesday evening.
The market rose due to forecasts of weaker output and supportive soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade, said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysian output fell 1.4% in February from January, while end-stocks declined 5.3% to 1.46 million tonnes.
Palm was earlier trading in a range and was down at the midday break as related edible oils weakened and demand slowed.
Palm oil exports from Malaysia, the world's second largest producer of the tropical oil, fell between March 1-20 compared with the same period a month ago.
Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services reported a 3% drop, while Societe Generale de Surveillance saw a 7.9% decline.
Palm also tracks the movement of other related vegetable oils, as they compete for a share in the global edible oils market.
Soybean oil on the Chicago Board of Trade was up 0.5%, while the September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.2%.
The September contract for palm olein on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was up 0.1%.
Palm oil remained within a range of RM2,767-2,810 per tonne, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1034 GMT
| Contract | Month | Last | Change | Low | High | Volume |
| MY PALM OIL | APR7 | 2970 | +29.00 | 2924 | 2970 | 434 |
| MY PALM OIL | MAY7 | 2879 | +34.00 | 2818 | 2879 | 4425 |
| MY PALM OIL | JUN7 | 2811 | +29.00 | 2754 | 2811 | 26603 |
| CHINA PALM OLEIN | SEP7 | 5626 | +4.00 | 5570 | 5668 | 421094 |
| CHINA SOYOIL | SEP7 | 6498 | -14.00 | 6460 | 6550 | 368332 |
| CBOT SOY OIL | MAY7 | 32.91 | +0.17 | 32.59 | 32.99 | 12670 |
| INDIA PALM OIL | MAR7 | 534.20 | +0.90 | 532.00 | 535.5 | 1077 |
| INDIA SOYOIL | APR7 | 646.35 | -2.10 | 643.9 | 648.4 | 19150 |
| NYMEX CRUDE | APR7 | 48.60 | +0.38 | 47.93 | 48.73 | 2016 |
Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
CBOT soy oil in US 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 US dollars per barrel
(US$1 = RM4.4230)
(US$1 = 65.2975 Indian rupees)
(US$1 = 6.8865 Chinese yuan)