VEGOILS-Palm prices hit new 1-year high, further gains expected
* Prices hit a high of 2,632 ringgit - highest since Sept. 28, 2012
* Palm posts biggest weekly gain since December 2010
* Lower production expectations boost prices - trader
(Recasts, updates closing prices, adds details)
By Michael Taylor
JAKARTA, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures hit a fresh one-year
high on Friday, as strong Asian demand coupled with lower production
expectations supported prices for a fifth consecutive session.
Both Malaysia and Indonesia, which account for the lion's share of global
palm oil production, are entering their monsoon weather season, traders and
analysts say, with output also likely to be dented by a lower production cycle
as yields have eased from last year.
The benchmark January contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives
Exchange ended 1.2 percent higher at 2,623 ringgit ($830) per tonne.
Earlier, benchmark prices rose to 2,632 ringgit, their highest since Sept.
28, 2012. It was also their biggest weekly gain since December 2010 and have
risen about 8 percent so far this year.
"The market is holding very well," said a trader with a foreign commodities
brokerage in Kuala Lumpur. "We are not going to have high production, due to wet
weather conditions.
"The market still looks friendly so there is room to go higher," he said,
adding that both Chinese and Indian demand remained strong.
Total traded volume stood at 40,821 lots of 25 tonnes each, above the usual
35,000 lots.
"Demand should remain fairly stable in view of the upcoming festive events
like Chinese New Year and rising biodiesel mandates in Indonesia," CIMB Analyst
Ivy Ng said in a note.
"The improvement in CPO (crude palm oil) price could be sustained into early
2014."
Also supporting palm prices, said one analyst, was a new regulation in
Indonesia, which caps palm plantation areas at 100,000 hectares.
In other markets, Brent futures traded around $109 a barrel, recovering from
an overnight fall after an official survey showed manufacturing in China, the
world's second-biggest oil consumer, expanded in October at its fastest pace in
18 months.
In competing vegetable oil markets, the U.S. soyoil contract for December
rose 0.9 percent in early Asian trade. The most-active May soybean oil
contract on the Dalian Commodities Exchange gained by 1.2 percent.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1012 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL NOV3 2648 +26.00 2611 2648 83
MY PALM OIL DEC3 2633 +33.00 2585 2635 1891
MY PALM OIL JAN4 2623 +30.00 2576 2632 23340
CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY4 6374 +74.00 6284 6374 864288
CHINA SOYOIL MAY4 7302 +90.00 7200 7308 1212654
CBOT SOY OIL DEC3 41.72 +0.39 41.35 42.00 7645
NYMEX CRUDE DEC3 96.40 +0.02 96.23 96.65 9413
Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
($1 = 3.1555 Malaysian ringgits)
(Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)
