Palm Oil Starts Week on Firm Footing

Malaysian palm oil futures climbed nearly 1%, trading above MYR 4,450 per tonne and snapping two sessions of losses, supported by a weaker ringgit and stronger rival soyoil on the Dalian exchange. Firmer crude oil prices, driven by geopolitical tensions in Europe and the Middle East, also lent support. On the demand side, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services estimated that Malaysian palm oil exports for September 1–20 rose 8.7% from the same period a month earlier, with purchases from top buyer India expected to remain strong ahead of the mid-October festive season. India’s imports may stay above 800,000 tonnes in September after surging to a 13-month high of 990,528 tonnes in August. Meanwhile, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board set the October crude palm oil reference price at a level that keeps the export duty at 10%. However, further gains were capped by signs of peak output in September–October on favorable weather, while end-August stocks rose 4.2% from July to 2.2 million tonnes.