20120312 1602 Palm Oil & Soy Oil Related News.

Palm Oil Drops From Nine-Month High on Malaysian Stockpiles
2012-03-12 04:31:43.536 GMT


By Ranjeetha Pakiam
    March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Palm oil fell on speculation that a
decline in Malaysian stockpiles will be within expectations and
as a rally last week to the highest level in nine months
prompted some investors to sell.
    May-delivery palm oil slipped as much as 0.6 percent to
3,331 ringgit ($1,101) a metric ton on the Malaysia Derivatives
Exchange, and was at 3,347 ringgit at the close of the morning
session in Kuala Lumpur. Futures reached 3,368 ringgit on March
9, the highest for a most-active contract since June 7 and rose
2.9 percent last week.
    Reserves in Malaysia, the second-biggest supplier, fell 5.4
percent to 1.9 million tons last month, dipping below two
million tons for the first time since August, after output
extended a drop, according to a Bloomberg survey last week.
Production fell 8.3 percent to 1.18 million tons, the lowest
since February last year, the survey showed. The Malaysian Palm
Oil Board is scheduled to release official data at 12:30 p.m.
    “Stocks will fall definitely, but it won’t have much of an
impact on the market,” Chandran Sinnasamy, trading head at
Kuala-Lumpur based LT International Futures (M) Sdn., said by
phone today. Prices are also down after climbing to a nine-month
high, he said.
    The March 9 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on
U.S. soybean inventories was also “bearish” for palm oil,
Chandran said. U.S. soybean end-stockpiles estimates were
unchanged from the 275-million bushels forecast in February for
the 2011-2012 marketing year, he said. “They cut the South
American crop as expected, but they didn’t increase the exports
from the U.S. as rising prices may curb demand, so they left
their stocks unchanged.”

                       Soybean Harvest
                             
    Brazil will harvest 68.5 million tons, down from 72 million
projected in February and 75.5 million a year ago, the USDA said.
Argentina’s estimated output was cut to 46.5 million, from 48
million last month and 49 million in the previous year.
    Malaysia’s palm oil exports jumped 30 percent to 444,259
tons in the first 10 days of March, from the same period in
February, independent market surveyor Intertek said March 10.
    Soybeans for May delivery were little changed at $13.39 a
bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. It reached $13.555 on
March 9, the highest since Sept. 19. Soybean oil for the same
month gained 0.2 percent to 54.36 cents a pound.
    Palm oil for delivery in September dropped 0.3 percent to
8,546 yuan ($1,352) a ton on the Dalian Commodity Exchange.
Soybean oil for delivery in the same month declined 0.5 percent
to 9,530 yuan a ton.