Malaysian palm oil futures held near MYR 3,700 per tonne, continuing its bullish movement for the third session and escaping from a 10-week low notched last week, amid gains in rival edible oil. Meantime, bets on tightening supplies in Malaysia continued to support sentiments, with Reuters predicting Malaysia’s palm oil inventories at end of December fell further as production shrank amid rainy weather and seasonal effects. Analysts also predicted a drop in palm oil stocks as the festive season ended. In top buyer India, palm oil imports in December rose to their highest in 4 months as purchases of refined palm olein jumped due to competitive prices. A strengthening ringgit, however, capped the upside momentum. Meantime, oil prices eased after Saudi Arabia cut prices of its Asian crude exports to over 2-year lows. Turning to top exporter Indonesia, the realization of domestic sales obligation hit 3.26 million metric tons in 2023, translating into 25.2 million tons in export permits.
