960402

European veg

oils close with

small gains

LONDON: European vegetable oils finished a quiet session on Tuesday with small gains in most sectors.

Coconut oil, which closed with sellers around $2.50 higher, saw a flurry of activity during the session following talk of trouble at a European crushing plant.

No further details were immediately available but dealers said the talk triggered some short covering with ex-tank fetching $770.00, $772.50 and $775, Feb/Mar $740 and $745, Apr/May $730 and $735 and May/Jun $725 a tonne cif.

Data from SGS which showed higher Malaysian palm oil exports during March had little impact on the European market.

Malaysian cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) put March Malaysian palm oil exports at 593,029 tonnes against 461,734 in February.

On Monday Malaysian cargo surveyor Caleb Brett put palm oil exports for March at 587,888 tonnes against 454,054 tonnes in February.

News that Pakistan's state-run Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) is likely to tender for at least 6,000 tonnes of RBD palm oil soon had no effect on prices.

The corporation scrapped a tender for 6,000 tonnes of palm oil last week because prices quoted were considered too high.

Crude palm oil cif Europe closed unchanged to $2.50 down while palm products were $2.50 to $5 higher.

Dutch soy oil closed 0.25 to 1.50 guilders up but sellers found buyers unwilling to follow the Chicago-led rise in prices.

Rape oil was 0.50 to one guilders up but found some buying interest with May/July fetching 91.25 guilders and Aug/Oct 93 guilders per 100 kg fob ex-mill.-Reuter