Buying in Soybean Complex Drives Soybean Oil Prices Higher

Vegetable oil futures were mixed on Monday with buying across the soybean complex supporting soybean oil futures, while weakness on the Dalian weighed on nearby palm oil values. Crude oil prices were volatile as tropical weather drove uncertainty about the status of production platforms in the Gulf, but ended the day closer to overnight lows than the high set just before the opening of U.S. trading. In the short term, there are some indications that the markets may move lower, but the direction will depend on the movement in Chinese vegetable oil markets.

Soybean oil futures gained more than 3/4 percent (December contract +28 basis points per pound), which left the benchmark December contract just below the psychologically critical 32-cent level. There has been some minor resistance at that level, but if…