Palm oil prices rose by 4.7% amid a 4% rise in oil prices

Against the backdrop of attacks by Ukrainian UAVs on Russian refineries and forecasts of a reduction in oil supplies in 2024, Brent crude oil futures last week rose by 4% to $85.4/barrel (+3.2% for the month), which supported the futures for palm oil in Malaysia.

May palm oil futures on the Malaysian Bursa exchange rose 4.7% for the week to 4,287 ringgits/t or $911.7/t (+8.9% in two weeks).

During March 1-15, the export of palm oil products from Malaysia increased compared to the same period in February by 3.3% to 580 thousand tons according to the surveyor Intertek Testing Services and by 8.4% to 542 thousand tons according to the estimates of the surveyor AmSpec Agri Malaysia.

Palm oil prices remain higher than soybean and sunflower, so its exports will continue to decline in the near term, especially against the backdrop of a seasonal increase in soybean oil production in Argentina.

May soybean oil futures on the Chicago Stock Exchange for the week rose by 6.7% to $1,088/t (+7.6% for the month) against the backdrop of rising oil and palm oil prices. But improving weather in Brazil and Argentina is putting pressure on soybean and soybean oil prices.

Prices for sunflower oil with delivery to buyers for the week increased by 3% to $845/t CIF, but growth is limited by increased supplies from the Russian Federation and a decrease in demand prices in the EU and Turkey.

In January-February, the Russian Federation exported 881,000 tons of sunflower oil, which is 35% more than the corresponding indicator of 2023 (660,000 tons). But if last year in this period China was the main buyer of oil, now it has become India, which bought a third of the oil exported from the Russian Federation – 309.9 thousand tons, while China bought only 167.1 thousand tons.

In February, Ukraine exported 603,000 tons of sunflower oil, which corresponds to the January figure, but is 50% higher than the February 2023 figure.