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The most active May CPO futures contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 0.93% to close at 4,541 ringgit ($1,157) per tonne, with the contract reaching an intraday high of 4,628 ringgit per tonne in the morning as CPO tracked strong overnight gains in both CME soybean oil futures and crude oil prices.
Support was sustained through the day, with CME soybean oil and crude oil both maintaining gains during Asia hours, while Chinese vegoil futures also traded higher.
The most active May palm olein futures contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange gained 2.43% to close at 9,684 yuan ($1,410) per tonne, while the equivalent May soybean oil contract also rose by 1.46% to close at 8,632 yuan per tonne.
The May rapeseed oil futures contract also gained 0.39% to close at 9,769 yuan per tonne.
On the news front, Malaysia has raised their CPO reference price for April to 3,935.19 ringgit per tonne, an increase of 39.10 ringgit from 3,896.09 ringgit per tonne the previous month, with the payable export tax for CPO at 9.5% of the reference price, or 373.84 ringgit per tonne.
In the cash market, an estimated 5,000 tonnes of CPO for March shipment were traded to India earlier in the day, with around 4,000 tonnes concluded at $1,235 per tonne CFR west coast India (WCI) and 1,000 tonnes priced at $1,243 per tonne CFR WCI.
Offers at the day’s close for March shipment CPO were at $1,240-1,250 per tonne CFR WCI, with buying ideas at $1,225-1,235 per tonne CFR WCI, while April-shipment CPO was offered at $1,255 per tonne CFR WCI with bids around $1,240 per tonne CFR WCI.
At origin, March-shipment CPO was offered at $1,217.50 per tonne FOB Indonesia, while April-shipment CPO was offered at $1,220-1,225 per tonne FOB Indonesia with buying ideas around $1,205 per tonne FOB Indonesia.
Offers for April-shipment olein were at $1,175 per tonne FOB Indonesia.
For soft oils, a small quantity of sunflower oil for March-April shipment was traded to India at $1,420 per tonne CIF landed weight (LW) on Wednesday, with offers on Thursday at $1,420-1,430 per tonne CIF LW India for Black Sea origin oil for April-shipment, while Argentine sunoil offers were around $15 per tonne lower.
Soybean oil offers were slightly lower from the previous day at $1,250-1,255 per tonne CFR WCI for April shipment, $1,235-1,245 per tonne CFR WCI for May, $1,225-1,235 per tonne CFR WCI for June and $1,220-1,230 per tonne CFR WCI for July shipment.
Buying interest was overall subdued, while local market activity was also relatively slower.
In the Americas, CME soyoil futures extended previous gains amid a strength in agricultural markets, driven by another surge in crude oil prices, as the conflict in the Middle East continued to raise concerns of a potential global supply disruption.
The most-active May CME soyoil contract went up 0.40% day on day to 67.43 cents per lb at 1pm US Eastern time. The positive pressure was limited by product spreading with soymeal.
Soyoil gains were mainly fueled on the day by energy prices, as crude oil futures jumped again, giving further support to the soybean complex and other agricultural futures.
New attacks raised concerns of a longer-than-expected war between the US-Israel and Iran, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz for the next few days deepened fears of major impacts in global trading flows.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday the conflict in the Middle East is leading to the biggest disruption of oil supply ever seen in global markets, after having released 400 million barrels of oil reserves the day before.
Meanwhile, soymeal futures surged at the time of publication, with the May contract in the CME up by 1.81% day on day to $321.10 per short ton at 1pm US Eastern time. Prices were mainly underpinned by firmer soybean, corn and wheat prices.
In the physical market in South America, soyoil bases moved higher on Thursday, with the April basis assessed at discounts of 15.25 cents per lb in Argentina and 14.75 cents per lb in Brazil, both to May futures.
On the soymeal front, the April soymeal basis in Brazil rose by $1.50 per short ton compared with the previous assessment to a discount of $3 per short ton to May futures.
In Argentina, the corresponding soymeal basis increased by $0.50 per short ton from the previous price, assessed at a discount of $6 per short ton to the same futures contract.
As of 6:10pm Central European Time, Euronext May rapeseed futures were trading at €515.75 ($594) per tonne, up by €3.50 per tonne from the previous market close.
FOB Rotterdam rapeseed oil (RSO) prices were mixed along the curve on Thursday, slipping marginally for prompt periods while remaining broadly unchanged further down the curve.
Direction in the global vegetable oils complex was also mixed, with sunflower oil prices in Europe declining and US bean oil and Malaysian palm remaining on an upward trend amid a stronger energy complex, where crude oil prices resumed their upward momentum from earlier in the trading week.
For April volumes, offers were heard at €1,155 per tonne, with bids around €1,132 per tonne, compared with offers at €1,160-1,165 per tonne and bids at €1,130-1,135 per tonne on Wednesday.
For the May-June-July (MJJ) strip, offers were indicated at €1,125 per tonne, with bids at €1,112 per tonne, compared with offers at €1,130 per tonne and buy-side interest around €1,105-1,114 per tonne on Wednesday.
Down the curve, August-September-October (ASO) offers were heard at €1,085 per tonne, with bids at €1,074 per tonne, compared with offers around €1,085 per tonne and buy-side indications at €1,065-1,072 per tonne on Wednesday.
Prices for FOB sunflower oil (SFO) across six EU ports declined along the curve on Thursday amid narrowing ideas from both buyers and sellers and slightly renewed market activity, with SFO trades reported for the July-August-September (JAS) period at $1,455 per tonne during the session.
For April-May-June (AMJ), offers were heard at $1,460-1,500 per tonne, while bids were first reported around $1,450 per tonne, before dropping to $1,440 per tonne later in the day. This compared with offers at $1,480-1,500 per tonne and bids $1,447.50-1,450 per tonne on Wednesday.
As for JAS, offers ranged $1,457.50-1,500 per tonne, with bids first reported at $1,455 per tonne and then at $1,445 per tonne later in the day. This compared with offers at $1,480-1,500 per tonne and buy-side interest at $1,452.50-1,455 per tonne on Wednesday.
On a CIF Mersin basis, the sunflower oil market for March-April shipment was heard with buyer ideas at $1,370-1,380 per tonne, against seller indications at $1,385-1,400 per tonne.
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