November 22, 2007	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 11, 1428

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21: Malaysian crude palm futures climbed 1.4 per cent on Wednesday as investors scrambled to take up positions after crude spiked to a record above $99 and soyaoil hit a fresh 33-year high.

Palm oil, increasingly taking direction from the energy markets due to its use as a feedstock for biofuel, is a whisker from the record high of 3,013 ringgit reached two weeks ago.

Crude oil’s dream of reaching $100 a barrel is going to come true and this will spell out another record for palm oil, said a local trader with a commodities firm. “And soyaoil is giving that added boost. Other traded months rose between 5 and 44 ringgit. Overall trade stood at 8,088 lots of 25 tons each.

Oil soared to record highs on Wednesday, drawing within a hair’s breadth of the $100 milestone as the US dollar plumbed new lows and the onset of cold US weather stirred anxiety over winter supplies.

Soybean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade rallied Tuesday on the belief that Chinese demand for soyabeans will stay strong given signs that it will encourage imports to curb its inflation, traders said.

December soyaoil closed 0.92 cent per lb firmer or up 2 per cent at 45.72. The contract was down 0.29 cent to 45.43 cents per lb at 1012 GMT, after earlier touching 46 cents, the highest for a benchmark since 1975.

Palm oil competes for the same exports as soyaoil and their prices often move in step.

The commodity is up nearly 49 per cent this year and demand from the food and biodiesel sectors has not quite diminished.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products during Nov. 1-20 rose 5.8 per cent to 925,104 tons from 874,276 tons shipped between Oct. 1 and 20, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said.

Another cargo surveyor Societe General de Surveillance said exports in the same period rose 9.2 per cent to 950,983 tons.

In Malaysia’s physical market, crude palm oil for November shipment in the southern region was quoted at 2,985/2,990 ringgit a ton. Trades were done between 2,980 and 2,990 ringgit.

—Reuters