Weather Concerns Drive Soybean Oil to Record Close

Vegetable oil prices were mixed on Friday as weather concerns returned to propel the benchmark contract to a record close. However, palm oil futures moved lower in response to the release of the pre-Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) report estimates, suggesting palm oil stocks ended April a little more than three percent higher than March. The divergence drove the spread between soybean oil and palm oil to fresh highs, with the August spread ending the week just below 22 3/4 cents per pound. The continuing widening of the spread continues to weigh on U.S. soybean export sales.

On Friday, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported sales of 1,000 tonnes of U.S. soybean oil sales during the week ended May 27, down 41 percent from the previous week but unchanged from the…