Palm oil in line for weekly gain on stronger U.S. soyoil

Malaysian palm oil futures rose during the first half of trade on Friday, in line for a third day of gains in four, tracking strength in U.S. soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Palm is also in line for a weekly gain, up 1.6 percent so far, supported by declines in the ringgit earlier this week.

A weaker ringgit, palm's currency of trade, usually makes the edible oil cheaper for foreign buyers. The ringgit declined 0.4 percent so far this week against the dollar after a global index provider said it could drop Malaysia from the FTSE World Government Bond Index due to market accessibility and liquidity concerns.

The benchmark palm oil contract for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.6 percent to 2,196 ringgit ($531.72) a tonne at the midday break.

"Palm is up tracking U.S. soyoil," said a Kuala Lumpur-based futures trader. "Moving forward, the market is looking at the export pace also, which are likely to be good."

Malaysia palm oil shipments had gained between 1.5-6.7 percent for the 1-15 April period versus the corresponding duration in March, according to cargo surveyor data.

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India`s palm oil imports set to hit six-year low - industry official

India's palm oil imports are likely to fall 15 percent in 2017/18 from the year before to their lowest in six years, hit by a hike in import taxes, a weaker rupee and tighter credit for would-be buyers, a senior industry official told Reuters.

Reduced purchases by the world's top importer of the oil, where it is widely used to fry foods such as samosas or bhajis, could pile more pressure on benchmark international futures that are already trading near their lowest in three years.

"Local prices moved up due to higher import tax and depreciation in the rupee. The price rise moderated demand for imports," said B.V. Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA).

India in March raised its import tax on refined palm oil to 54 percent to support local farmers. That made palm cargoes less appealing than shipments of alternative edible oils such as soyoil, sunflower oil and canola oil - at least until import duties on those commodities were raised to 45 percent in June.

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