07.01.2021 (www.todayonline.com) - KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 - Malaysian palm oil futures eased on Thursday as traders booked profit after the edible oil approached a 10-year high in the previous session, though tepid outlook about global supply limited losses.

The benchmark palm oil contract for March delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 16 ringgit, or 0.41%, to 3,861 ringgit ($960.93) a tonne during early trade.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Weather disruption and labour shortages mean global palm oil production is unlikely to stay on trend to hit growth projections of more than 6 million tonnes this year, leading analyst James Fry said on Wednesday.

* Thomas Mielke, chief executive officer of Oil World, in a virtual conference on Thursday pegged global palm oil production to rise by 4.4 million tonnes in the 2020/21 season.

* Mielke estimates Indonesian palm oil production in 2020/21 to rise by 3.4 million tonnes, while Malaysia's output is forecast to grow by 0.3 million tonnes.

* The soybean market has transitioned into "rationing mode" as tight global supplies and crop-stressing drought in Argentina have ignited the strongest soy market rally in years, Joe Stone, the head of Cargill Inc's CARG.UL agricultural supply chain, said on Wednesday.

* Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.9%. Dalian's most-active soyoil contract rose 2%, while its palm oil contract gained 0.07%.

* Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

MARKET NEWS

* Asian stocks perked up on Thursday as investors remained confident that violence in Washington would not disrupt a legitimate transition to a new presidency or derail political support for a U.S. economic recovery.

DATA/EVENTS

0700 Germany Industrial Orders MM Nov

1000 EU HICP Flash YY Dec

1000 EU HICP-X F&E Flash YY Dec

1000 EU Consumer Confid. Final Dec

1330 US International Trade Nov

1330 US Initial Jobless Clm Weekly

1500 US ISM N-Mfg PMI Dec

1400 Bank of England Executive Director for Markets, Andrew Hauser speech at Thomson Reuters Newsmaker, followed by a moderated discussion with Reuters Chief UK Economics Correspondent REUTERS

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