KUALA LUMPUR, June 24: The Malaysian crude palm oil futures market was waiting for June 1-25 exports data later this week which would provide players with fresh ideas about the appetite of main buyers, traders said on Monday.
Some traders said major consumers such as India and Pakistan are already slowing down their palm oil intake because of improving local inventories.
But others said exports would be steady at 800,000 tons because buyers were still in need of oil.
Cargo surveyors ITS and SGS are scheduled to release the exports forecast for the first 25 days of June on Tuesday.
Someone has tried to bring the market down and it affected a lot of people, said one trader, referring to last week’s technical correction.
But nothing has changed when it comes to supply/demand fundamentals, he added.
At the close, the benchmark third-month September contract settled 21 ringgit higher at 1,405 ringgit ($369.74) a ton after trading as high as 1,418 ringgit.
Overall volume was heavy at 4,833 lots while open interest was at an all-time high of 17,494 contracts which traders said was due to healthy market fundamentals.
Some traders said exports could reach a million tons for the whole of June, up from the official 939,971 tons in May, because of steady demand from main buyers such as India, China and Pakistan.
India, the world’s largest edible oil importer, asked for about close to 100,000 tons of crude palm oil and crude olein from Malaysia and Indonesia over the weekend and bought up to 40,000.
China was also seen buying palm olein on Monday at $410 a ton C&F on Monday, said some traders.
Kuala Lumpur traders said archrival Indonesia was selling less oil because of its stronger currency, the rupiah, adding that some vessels had been diverted to Malaysia from Belawan and Dumai ports in Sumatra due to a lack of cargoes.
In the physical market, June/July for the southern and central regions saw bids at 1,435 ringgit a ton, against sale offers at 1,425 ringgit.
Trades were reported at 1,425 to 1,432.50 ringgit a ton for June/July (central).
July (south) was done at 1,430 ringgit.—Reuters