SINGAPORE, Dec 17: Malaysian palm oil futures inched up on Monday, riding on rival soybean oil’s gains after the US soy crushing data sent soybeans to a six-week peak.

Chicago soybeans hit their highest since Nov 8 after data from the National Oilseed Processors Association showed the US soybean processors crushed the most soybeans in almost three years and on higher demand especially from top buyer China.

Soybean oil rose in tandem, supporting palm oil, a competing vegetable oil used to make products ranging from food to biofuels. But gains were limited as concerns over high Malaysian stockpiles remained, especially as the latest data pointed to signs of slowing exports, although traders said easing production could help bring down stock levels.

“The market is up a bit on the back of Dalian and Chicago soybean oil,” said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia. “Malaysian palm production should come down this month, so inventory should probably go down a bit.” At the close, the benchmark March contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had gained 0.3 per cent, settling at 2,352 ringgit ($770) per ton. Total traded volumes stood at 30,806 lots of 25 tons each, much higher than the usual 25,000 lots.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Dec 1-15 fell 6.4 per cent to 719,817 tons from 769,087 tons for the Nov 1-15 period, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Saturday. Another cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance will issue data for the same period later on Monday.

Malaysia, the world’s No.2 palm oil producer, will set its crude palm oil export tax for January at zero per cent, a government circular showed on Monday, in a bid to spur shipments of the grade and bring down record stocks.

In a bearish sign for palm oil, Brent crude edged below $108 a barrel on Monday as investors remained concerned over the progress of the US budget deficit reduction talks, countering support from signs of a brighter economic outlook in China.

In other vegetable oil markets, the US soyoil for January delivery edged up 0.5 per cent. The most active May 2013 soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange closed 1.5 per cent higher.—Reuters