Soy product futures finished mixed, with soymeal stumbling with corn. Soymeal was pressured by weakness in feed grain corn, as meal has been encumbered by increased competition from distillers dried grain, a byproduct of ethanol production, analysts said. Soyoil futures settled at their highest level in three-weeks, supported strength in crude oil futures and strong demand for world vegoils, analysts said. CBOT May soyoil ended 0.71 cents or 1.2% higher at 59.48 cents per pound, and May soymeal traded $2.80 or 0.8% lower at $369.70 a short ton. (Source: CME)
Malaysia Palm Oil Conference Issues: Uncertain Demand, Rising Supply (Source: CME)
Rising food prices, concerns about demand aggravated by tensions in the Middle East, and improving global supplies of vegetable oils are some of the issues that will be in focus when Bursa Malaysia's Palm Oil Conference and Price Outlook opens. The three-day conference will bring producers, industry analysts, investors and consumers to assess the palm oil market, where prices have fallen 6% so far this year. Crude palm oil production in Malaysia and Indonesia, which account for four-fifths of global palm oil output, is improving after persistently bad weather in 2010--beginning with an El Nino-related drought and ending with a La Nina-related excess of rain--induced tree stress, sapping yields and cutting output. Output in Malaysia, which has declined for two consecutive years, may show a modest increase of around 4% this year to 17.6 million tons, Commodities Minister Bernard Dompok said. Output reached 17 million tons in 2010.
Improving crop prospects in both countries comes as South America is gearing up for a bigger soybean crop, as weather conditions improve and Brazil's soybean cultivation area expands. Brazil could harvest a record crop of 70 million tons of soybeans in 2011, according to Hamburg-based OilWorld, up from 68.6 million tons in 2010. "The major influence on (international vegetable oil) prices this year continues to be the supply factor...there may be a very large bean crop (from Brazil)," said Emily French, managing director at agri-business consulting firm ConsiliAgra in the U.S. Consumption of palm oil in China--one of the world's largest vegetable oil buyers--fell 12% in 2010 to 5.7 million tons as surging palm oil prices caused the tropical oil to lose market share to its rival, soyoil. China's palm oil demand may improve in 2011, as its government, concerned with rising food prices, may cut import tariffs on a range of products to stimulate imports, Vice-Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan said recently.
Argentine grains exchange holds soy harvest outlook
BUENOS AIRES, March 3 (Reuters) - Argentina's 2010/11 soy harvest is seen stable at 48.8 million tonnes, with crops in good shape despite drier weather over the last week, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said on Thursday.
Argentina, the world's third-biggest soy supplier, was affected by dry weather earlier this season, but heavy rains from mid-January onward have brightened the outlook for the harvest of the oilseed.
Palm oil prices rise to 1-wk high, tracks crude higher
JAKARTA, March 4 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures climbed to a one-week high with sentiment driven by rising crude prices as the crisis in Libya and parts of the Middle East showed little sign of resolution. "Palm oil is marginally higher," said one trader. "It is supported by steady crude oil. The revival of biodiesel is coming into play."
Malaysia's Feb palm oil stocks fall to 19-month lows
KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 (Reuters) - Malaysia's February palm oil stocks probably dropped to 19-month lows as overall demand outpaced almost flat production, a Reuters survey showed on Friday.
Stocks in the world's No. 2 producer probably fell 2.4 percent to 1.38 million tonnes, the lowest level since July 2009, but the pace of the decline has slowed, the median survey of six plantation houses showed.
Brazil on brink of new soy boom, easing food panic
SAO PAULO, March 4 (Reuters) - When soy futures hit record highs in 2008, Brazilian farmers were in no position to capitalize on the boom. Crippling debts, wild currency swings and high fertilizer and fuel costs rendered them unwilling or unable to sow more acres.
Today, although prices are almost 20 percent lower, conditions have rarely been better. Farmers, now flush with cash, are preparing the first sustained expansion of the country's soy crop after a half decade of stagnation.
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