KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 (Reuters) – Malaysian palm oil futures slipped on Wednesday after a two-day climb, although expectations of slowing production and strong demand during the Ramadan festival limited losses.
The benchmark palm oil contract FCPOc3 for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 17 ringgit, or 0.46%, to 3,670 ringgit ($834.28) a tonne during early trade.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Indonesia plans to set its crude palm oil reference price for the April 1-15 period at $898.29 per tonne, Musdhalifah Machmud, a senior official at the Coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs, said on Tuesday.
* Palm oil’s rare premium over rival rapeseed oil and sunflower oil is likely to be short-lived and should slip into a discount once top producer Indonesia eases export curbs after Ramadan, industry participants told Reuters.
* Exports from Malaysia during March 1-25 jumped between 11.4% and 19.8% from the same period in February, according to cargo surveyors’ data this week.
* Production in the world’s second-largest producer is expected to decline after a miller’s association estimated a 22.9% decline in output during March 1-25, analysts said.
* Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract DBYcv1 rose 1.3%, while its palm oil contract DCPcv1 gained 1.5%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade BOcv1 were down 0.5%.
* Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.
* Palm oil may rise into a range of 3,773 ringgit to 3,810 ringgit per tonne to cover a gap forming on March 22, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said. TECH/C
MARKET NEWS
* Asian shares rose sharply on Wednesday while the dollar was on the defensive as easing concerns over the banking sector revived risk appetite, while Alibaba’s stock soared on the internet behemoth’s plans to split into six units. MKTS/GLOB
DATA/EVENTS
No major data/events expected on Wednesday, March 29 ($1 = 4.3990 ringgit)
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(Reporting by Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
((Meifong.chu@thomsonreuters.com))
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