Malaysian palm oil price rises on Indonesian energy firm's biodiesel supply deal

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil rose on Wednesday after reports Indonesian state-owned energy company Pertamina had secured biodiesel supplies.
    The January benchmark palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 2.3 percent to reach 2,362 ringgit ($554.07) a tonne at the end of the trading day.
    Traded volume stood at 59,703 lots of 25 tonnes each, well above the average 35,000 lots usually traded in a day.
    Pertamina confirmed on Wednesday it would be receiving biodiesel from suppliers based on recommendations from the government, Bloomberg reported. The usage of biodiesel usually
creates new demand for palm oil and supports prices. 
    "The market is firmer today... partly on news about Indonesia. The market was waiting for news where demand could come in," said a trader based in Kuala Lumpur.
    "There is some covering taking place in the market today but
it may come off again until there is concrete demand from China
and India."
    On Wednesday, the head of the Indonesian agency in charge of
collecting a new levy on crude palm oil exports said the
government should consider reducing the levy if prices fall
below $450 a tonne. 
    Indonesia implemented a levy on crude palm oil exports in
July to fund biodiesel subsidies, as demand for the vegetable
oil from top consumer China weakened on a slowing economy. 
    Palm oil is biased to approach a resistance at 2,373 ringgit
per tonne, as indicated by a wedge, according to Reuters market
analyst for commodities and energy technicals Wang Tao.
 
    In competing vegetable oil markets, the U.S. December soyoil
contract rose 1.1 percent while the January soybean oil
contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange gained 1.2
percent.
    
  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1101 GMT
                                                                 
  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      NOV5    2240   +37.00    2218    2240      92
  MY PALM OIL      DEC5    2302   +49.00    2252    2307    1595
  MY PALM OIL      JAN6    2362   +50.00    2304    2367   31365
  CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN6    4376    +4.00    4326    4384 1004684
  CHINA SOYOIL     JAN6    5614   +68.00    5528    5616  810430
  CBOT SOY OIL     DEC5   28.46    +7.10   27.96   28.47    8095
  INDIA PALM OIL   NOV5  407.50    +7.10  402.50  408.30    2498
  INDIA SOYOIL     NOV5  629.35    +2.20  625.80  630.50   22885
  NYMEX CRUDE      DEC5   47.98    +0.08   47.44   48.10   40178
                                                                 
  Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
  CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
  Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne
  India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg
  Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
 
($1 = 4.2630 ringgit)
($1 = 65.4850 Indian rupees)
($1 = 6.3357 Chinese yuan)
- Reuters