Feb.
22 (Bloomberg) -- Palm oil advanced, poised for aweekly gain, on speculation that
demand for the world’s mostused cooking oil may increase after soybeans,
crushed to make acompeting product, rallied to a two-week high.
The
contract for delivery in May advanced as much as 0.8percent to 2,555 ringgit
($824) a metric ton on the MalaysiaDerivatives Exchange, and ended the morning
session at 2,551ringgit. Futures are set to gain 2.7 percent this week.
Argentina’s
2012-2013 soybean crop output forecast will betrimmed to about 49 million tons,
or 48 million, from a Decemberforecast of 53 million by the Rosario Grains
Exchange as thisweek’s rain didn’t offset damage from the previous month’sdrought,
according to a person with direct knowledge of thesituation yesterday.
Soybeans
in Chicago today rallied for afifth day to the highest level since Feb. 8.“The
market is focusing on Argentina although it is awarethat it’s going to be a big
crop.” said Gnanasekar Thiagarajan,a director at Mumbai-based Commtrendz Risk
Management ServicesPvt. “This will be a short-lived rally.”
Soybeans
for May delivery climbed as much as 1.2 percent to$14.88 a bushel on the
Chicago Board of Trade. Soybean oil for May delivery advanced 0.6 percent to
51.98 cents a pound.
The cooking
oil’s premium to palm oil was at $322.52 a ton today. The two are the most consumed
edible oils in the world. Refined palm oil for delivery in September rose 0.5
percentto 7,078 yuan ($1,134) a ton on the Dalian Commodity Exchange.Soybean
oil for delivery in the same month increased 1.3percentto 8,738 yuan a ton.
