Soybean Oil Prices Gain Two Percent; Palm Oil Futures Slide

Following a strong start to the week, vegetable oil prices ended mixed on Tuesday. Palm oil futures retreated on profit-taking, while soybean oil markets were volatile and traded on both sides of the ledger before closing two percent higher. Against a backdrop of improved weather conditions in South America, participants positioned themselves in the palm oil and soybean oil futures markets agand before Wednesday’s release of the USDA’s updated World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE). Market sources anticipate the USDA will make additional cuts to soybean production estimates for Argentina and Brazil due to the recent drought that caused significant crop damage. Analysts expect USDA will trim Brazil’s output to about 128 million tonnes, from 134 million tonnes previously and cut Argentina’s prodcution outlook to 43 million tonnes, from 45 million tonnes. Analysts also expect the agency…