Profit-Taking Pulls Down Palm Oil Prices, Soy Oil Settles Higher after WASDE

Vegetable oil prices were mixed on Wednesday, as profit-taking pulled palm oil futures lower for the first time in four sessions, and soybean oil markets climbed following the release of the key World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report. In its report for January, the USDA raised its estimate for U.S. 2021/22 soybean oil production and exports but left its outlook for ending soy oil stocks unchanged. In its quarterly grain stocks report, also released at midday, USDA reported U.S. soybean inventories, as of December 1, 2021, were 3.14 billion bushels, largely in line with market expectations.

This neutral to bearish data was overshadowed by a fairly large cuts to the agency’s projections for South America’s soybean production. After a recent spell of extreme heat and dryness in crop-growing regions in Brazil and…