Palm oil resumed gains on the outlook for rising demand, while traders monitored the impact of flooding in the world’s top growers.

“Festival season buying has commenced,” said Gnanasekar Thiagarajan, head of trading and hedging strategies at Kaleesuwari Intercontinental. Robust demand due to Lunar New Year and the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan in early 2026 should help keep prices elevated, he added.

Separately, widespread rainfall and flooding across Asia, including Malaysia, are likely to “obstruct logistics and movement, curtailing supply during a time when demand is expected to rise sharply,” Thiagarajan said.

Prices:

• Palm for February delivery on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives was 0.9% higher at 4,132 ringgit/ton as of the midday break.
• Futures are up for the fourth time in five sessions.
• Soybean oil for January in Chicago +0.5% to 52.61c/lb.
• Refined palm oil for January on Dalian Commodity Exchange +0.5% to 8,692 yuan/ton.
• Soybean oil for January little changed at 8,278 yuan/ton.
• Soybean oil’s premium over palm ~$161/ton vs avg of ~$76 in past year: data compiled by Bloomberg.
• Palm’s premium over gasoil ~$313/ton vs avg of ~$314 in past year: data compiled by Bloomberg.

Source: Bloomberg