May 22, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 16, 1429

JAKARTA, May 21: Indonesian palm oil prices were mixed on Wednesday, grappling for direction amid marginal gains by Malaysia crude palm oil futures, a softer rupiah currency and slowing local demand.

The state marketing centre in Jakarta sold crude palm oil at 10,026 rupiah ($1.08) a kg, down from 10,051 rupiah on Monday due to slow demand from local refiners.

Markets in Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil producer, were closed on Tuesday for a Buddhist holiday.

Producers in North Sumatra’s Medan sold crude palm oil at 9,975-10,005 rupiah a kg, up from 9,958 rupiah a kg on Monday with 1,000 tonnes of the oil changing hands.

Medan’s price rose this morning, mirroring gains in Malaysia’s crude palm oil futures, said a dealer at a plantation firm in Medan, home to Belawan port, Indonesia’s key port for palm oil exports.

But the dealer said the crude palm oil market in Medan was quiet as players awaited price forecasts from influential analyst Dorab Mistry due on Friday.

Jakarta is hosting a palm oil summit this week, during which top industry analysts, including Mistry, will give their forecasts.

Malaysian crude palm oil futures rose marginally on Wednesday on the back of record high crude oil prices, but weakening exports limited gains.

By the midday break, the benchmark August contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 12 ringgit, or 0.34 per cent, to 3,566 ringgit ($1,100) per ton.

Aside from the muted gains in Malaysia, a weaker rupiah against the dollar also helped boost the price of refined, bleached, deodorised (RBD) palm olein, used as cooking oil.

A softer rupiah against the dollar makes the commodity, which is traded in the US currency, more expensive in rupiah terms.

In Jakarta, cooking oil was traded at 10,225 rupiah a kg, up from 10,150 rupiah a kg on Monday.

No price quotations were available on the crude palm oil export front, reflecting sluggish demand.—Reuters