Soybean Oil Prices Rally Despite Energy Weakness

World vegetable oil futures continued to rally on Thursday despite a decline in energy prices. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures declined by nearly two percent as optimism about production cuts faded and concerns about the pandemic’s acceleration in Europe, and the United States triggered selling. Analysts estimate various European governments’ efforts to slow the virus’s spread to reduce demand by 1.5 million barrels per day. The proposed delay in returning supply to the market by countries allied with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) would keep two million barrels per day of supply from entering the market, more than offsetting the decline in demand. However, the surge in the pandemic’s spread in the United States, which reported more than 100,000 new cases on Wednesday, could cut demand and, combined with the decrease in…