Soyabean oil rose in tandem, supporting palm oil, a competing vegetable oil used to make products ranging from food to biofuels. But gains were limited as concerns over high Malaysian stockpiles remained, especially as the latest data pointed to signs of slowing exports, although traders said easing production could help bring down stock levels. "The market is up a bit on the back of Dalian and Chicago soyabean oil," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia. "Malaysian palm production should come down this month, so inventory should probably go down a bit."
At the close, the benchmark March contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had gained 0.3 percent, settling at 2,352 ringgit ($770) per tonne. Total traded volumes stood at 30,806 lots of 25 tonnes each, much higher than the usual 25,000 lots. Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for December 1-15 fell 6.4 percent to 719,817 tonnes from 769,087 tonnes for the November 1-15 period, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Saturday. Another cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance will issue data for the same period later on Monday.
Malaysia, the world's No 2 palm oil producer, will set its crude palm oil export tax for January at zero percent, a government circular showed on Monday, in a bid to spur shipments of the grade and bring down record stocks. In other vegetable oil markets, US soyaoil for January delivery edged up 0.5 percent. The most active May 2013 soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange closed 1.5 percent higher.