The Malaysian palm is poised to gain a weekly profit on the strength of physical demand

The price of Malaysian palm oils rose for the third session in a row on Friday. This was due to strong demand before Eid al-Fitr, an Islamic holiday. Also, rival vegetable oil prices were strong.

By midday, the benchmark palm oil contract on Bursa Malaysia's Derivatives exchange for June delivery had gained 80 ringgit or 1.86% to $4392 ringgit (US$991.20) per metric ton.

The contract is expected to gain 0.39% this week, the first weekly gain for three weeks.

A Kuala Lumpur based trader stated that "Today crude palm oil future prices are up due to strong physical demand because of the holiday next week and strong Dalian prices."

Bursa Malaysia is closed Monday and Tuesday, if Eid falls Monday, March 31. However, the financial markets are open Monday under normal trading hours if Eid occurs Tuesday, April 1.

Palm oil prices on the Dalian Commodity Exchange soared by 2.48%. The soyoil contract was up 0.71%. The Chicago Board of Trade's (CBOT), soyoil price rose by 0.18%.

Sources said that the U.S. oil producers and biofuels producers had agreed to increase the renewable diesel and biodiesel mandate from its current 3.35 billion gallon level.

As palm oil competes to gain a share in the global vegetable oils industry, it tracks the price changes of competing edible oils.

Indonesia increased its crude palm oil benchmark price for April, to $961.54 per metric ton.

The Indonesian Palm Oil Association's (GAPKI), showed Thursday that Indonesian palm oil inventories at the end January increased by 13.98% despite a decline in production and exports falling to a 4-month low. ($1 = 4.4310 ringgit)

(source: Reuters)