Palm oil rises on Nov export strength, higher Indonesian taxes

Malaysian palm oil futures firmed on Friday (Nov 11), supported by a surge in early November exports and Indonesia’s plan to raise its export tax reference price, although the contract was bound for a weekly loss.

After declining for three straight sessions, the benchmark palm oil contract for January delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained RM35, or 0.84%, to RM4,213 a tonne by the midday break.

For the week, palm is set to fall by 3.5%.

In top palm oil producer Indonesia, Trade Ministry official Farid Amir said Jakarta plans to set reference price of its crude palm oil higher at US$826.58 (RM3,826.65) per tonne for Nov 16-30 shipments.

“Higher Indonesian tax and levy is set to diminish Indonesia’s price discount. This will help Malaysian prices to rise,” said Sathia Varqa, co-founder of Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics.

Palm has also made a stunning recovery and recouped some losses from the last three days helped by bullish equities market, Varqa added.

Asian shares jumped, while the US dollar nursed steep losses after a smaller-than-expected increase in US consumer prices fuelled hopes that the Federal Reserve could tone down its aggressive pace of interest rate hikes.

Exports of palm oil products from Malaysia during Nov 1-15 jumped between 12.7% and 33% from the same week in October, as shipments to India and China accelerated, cargo surveyors said on Thursday.

End-October palm oil stocks at the world’s second largest producer expanded for a fifth month to a three-year high of 2.4 million tonnes, Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) data showed on Friday.

Dalian’s most active soyoil contract fell 1%, while its palm oil contract gained 2%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.2%.

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

Tags: Malaysia, palm oil, futures, contract, exports, export, price, Indonesia