Palm oil on the European vegetable oils market was mostly firmer on Tuesday, the first trading day following the Christmas break, as Malaysian palm oil futures rose on optimism over exports and due to strength in rival soyaoil. Palm oil was mostly offered between flat and $7.50 a tonne up in slow trade as many players were bridging between Christmas and the New Year. Malaysian palm oil futures closed between 29 and 84 ringgit per tonne higher buoyed by data showing a slower decline in exports and improved sentiment for rival oils on Dalian and CBOT.

"As is usual between Christmas and the New Year business is very slow with substantially less participants around. Futures were strong on end-of-year positioning but it did not exert much excitement in the cash market," one broker said.

Copyright Reuters, 2016