Bullish News Drives Palm Oil Prices Higher

Vegetable oil prices were mixed on Monday as palm oil continued to move higher on bullish fundamentals, while hedging and late-session fund spreading drove soybean oil futures lower. Cargo surveyor data and a report suggesting there was a labor shortage in the palm plantations contributed to the gains in palm oil despite lower overnight crude oil prices. Soybean oil traded higher with palm oil in the overnight session. However, futures opened the U.S. session well below the close of the overnight session and traded steadily lower throughout the day. Most contracts settled near the low of the day despite a rally that lifted crude oil prices to gains during U.S. trading hours.

Soybean oil prices were mostly narrowly mixed, but contracts with deliveries in the second quarter of 2021 or later rose about 1/4 percent. Despite the…