ET:Soyoil rises on weak rupee; soybean treads water
MUMBAI: Soyoil futures rose on Thursday on weak rupee, while soybean was treading water as a drop in supplies outweighed softening in overseas prices.
Malaysian palm oil futures were down 0.5 per cent at 2,385 ringgit per tonne at 0800 GMT, while US soybeans nudged down 0.05 per cent to $15.08 per bushel, after shedding 0.5 per cent in the previous session.
"Overseas fundamentals are bearish. In Malaysia, palm oil stockpile is building up. It is not allowing local edible oil prices to rise," said Faiyaz Hudani, a senior research analyst at Kotak Commodity Services Ltd.
India fulfils more than half of its edible oil requirement through imports, constituting largely palm oil.
Seasonally strong production may have driven Malaysian palm oil stocks to another record high in October, a Reuters survey of five plantation firms showed this week.
"Soybean prices are coming down in the world market as South America is set to produce bumper crop. It is depressing local soybean prices," Hudani said.
The December soybean contract on India's National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange was up 0.06 per cent at Rs 3,344 per 100 kg.
Soybean prices are unlikely to fall sharply as they are getting support from a weak rupee and rising export orders for soymeal, dealers said.
A weak rupee makes edible oil imports expensive and at the same time raises returns of oilmeal exporters. Rupee fell on Thursday.
India's soymeal exports jumped more than seven fold in October from a month earlier, when they hit their lowest level in at least two years, as fresh supplies rolled in and competitive prices attracted demand.
The December Soyoil contract was up 0.76 per cent at Rs 667.2 per 10 kg, while rapeseed was 0.74 per cent higher at Rs 4,210 per 100 kg.
India's soybean production in 2012/13 is expected to rise 8.8 per cent on year to 12.67 million tonnes, while rapeseed output is likely to grow nearly 25 per cent to 6.5 million tonnes, industry officials said.
At the Indore spot market in Madhya Pradesh, soyoil slipped Rs 0.65 to 697.1 rupees per 10 kg, while soybean rose by 21 rupees to Rs 3,368 per 100 kg. At Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, rapeseed jumped by Rs 88 to Rs 4,400.
