Bullish Export Data Lifts Soybean Oil Futures

World vegetable oil prices rallied on Thursday as buyers returned to the palm oil market despite weakness in crude oil and Chinese vegetable oil markets overnight. The strength in palm oil and bullish weekly export sales data triggered fund spreading in soybean oil, which helped drive prices higher. Crude oil prices traded in a $1 per barrel range but ended the U.S. agricultural session about 3/4 percent lower.

Soybean oil futures gained about 1/2 percent (September contract +16 basis points per pound) but settled about one percent below the high of the day. The high occurred just after the U.S. opening as data indicating the first U.S. exports to China drove prices higher after someone either established or added a substantial number of contracts to a…