Palm trades in tight range as soyoil spread weighs

Malaysian palm oil futures were range-bound on Wednesday, as stronger exports and firmer soyoil supported the market, but palm oil losing competitive advantage over soyoil weighed. The benchmark palm oil contract for December delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 7 ringgit, or 0.16%, to 4,350 ringgit ($1,036.21) a metric ton at the midday break. The contract fell 2.25% on Tuesday. Crude palm oil futures traded marginally higher on strong export performance and higher Chicago soybean oil prices, said David Ng, a proprietary trader at Kuala Lumpur-based trading firm Iceberg X Sdn Bhd. “The narrowing spread between palm oil and soybean oil is also weighing on palm oil price gains.” Cargo surveyors estimated exports of Malaysian palm oil products for September 1-20 to have risen between 8.3% and 8.7% month-on-month. Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract fell 0.34%, while its palm oil contract added 0.04%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade gained 0.12%. ...