* Export curbs by producer countries have followed moves by consumer countries

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian crude palm oil futures jumped 4.3 percent on Wednesday to hit a near two-week high as concerns of tight global oilseed supplies spurred investors to buy after last week’s sell-off.

Palm oil has staged a solid comeback with three straight sessions of gains as edible oil producing countries from Argentina to Indonesia raised export taxes while consuming nations such as India slashed import duties.

The benchmark June contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose as much as 150 ringgit to 3,650 ringgit ($1,147), a level not seen since March 14. By the midday break, the contract was up 140 ringgit at 3,640 ringgit. Other traded months rose between 102 and 151 ringgit. Overall trade rose to 8,681 lots of 25 tonnes each. “People realised that the spill-over turbulence from financial markets did not do justice to the strong fundamentals of palm oil,” said Fordyanto Widjaja, a Singapore-based analyst with Morgan Stanley.

Widjaja said palm oil market was riding higher on the back of bullish soyoil prices due to an Argentinian grain farmers’ strike at the start of the South American soy season due to the increase in export taxes. For details, click on

And suppliers of the Argentinian soy and soyoil have declared force majeure on cargoes to China with up to 1 million tonnes of soy affected, Chinese traders and industry officials said on Wednesday.

Soyoil for May delivery at the Chicago Board of Trade shot up 1.2 percent to 58.47 cents per pound, while the most-active Spetember soyoil contract on China’s Dalian Exchange jumped 2.2 percent to 11,126 yuan.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s move to double crude palm oil export taxes to 20 percent in April would see a heavier reliance on Malaysian palm oil to satisfy world demand, Malaysian traders said.

“There has been talk of Indonesian exporters rushing to ship out palm oil to Malaysia prior to the export hike announcement on Tuesday,” said a trader with a local commodities brokerage. “They are pretty desperate.” Export curbs by producer countries have followed moves by consumer countries such as India in slashing import duties for crude palm oil to 20 percent from 45 percent.

Soyoil may also be the next item to get a cut in import duties, an Indian government source said on Monday. But Asian traders have said that Malaysian palm oil will be the main benefactor of the flurry of import duty cuts and export tax hikes.
“Soyoil available for food demand is low and the Argentinian export tax increase has made that worse,” said a trader with a foreign brokerage in the Malaysian capital. He added: “Palm oil will have to satisfy Indian food demand regardless of whether the government cuts soyoil import duties.” Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said Malaysian palm oil exports rose 10.2 percent to 1,006,100 tonnes for March 1-25, while Societe Generale de Surveillance reported a 14.8 percent jump to 1,037,210 tonnes.

In Malaysia’s physical market, crude palm oil for March shipment in the southern region was quoted at 3,590/3,600 ringgit a tonne. Trades were quoted between 3,580 and 3,590 ringgit. reuters

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