FCPO Related News (Thurs, Mar 7)

KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures ended flat in thin volume on Wednesday, with investors digesting price forecasts by top analysts at the industry's biggest annual gathering to determine their strategies.

The Bursa Malaysia palm oil conference in the Malaysian capital saw main speakers James Fry, the chairman of commodities consultancy LMC International, and Dorab Mistry, head of trading at India's leading speciality chemicals group Godrej Industries present price outlooks for palm oil. "We should see a short-term bottom at 2,300 ringgit. Most market players are still digesting the price forecasts," said a dealer with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia, referring to Mistry's forecast that prices should range between 2,300 and 2,500 ringgit until the end of April. The benchmark May contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed flat at 2,400 ringgit ($774) per tonne. Prices were caught in a 2,389-2,413 ringgit range. Total traded volume was thin, at 20,945 lots of 25 tonnes each, below the average 25,000 lots.

Mistry posted a bearish price outlook on improving global supplies of oilseeds and palm oil in the later part of the year, saying prices could fall to 2,200 ringgit or even lower after mid-April. Fry, who spoke earlier just before the market's midday close, said palm oil's low prices had encouraged its greater use in biofuel, and that could help ease record stocks. He also said prices may climb to 2,625 ringgit by mid-year. 

Technicals showed Malaysian palm oil faces resistance at 2,418 ringgit per tonne, a break above which will open the way towards 2,450 ringgit, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

High stocks in Malaysia, the world's No.2 palm oil producer, have caused prices to tumble more than 20 percent in 2012.  A Reuters poll of traders, analysts and government officials at the palm oil forum showed that prices could fall an average of 18.2 percent to 2,420 ringgit per tonne this year as stockpiles continue to weigh. European imports of palm oil are heading for record highs of 6.4 million tonnes between Oct. 2012 and Sept. 2013, Hamburg-based analyst Oil World said on Tuesday, taking up the slack from lower supplies of soyoil and sunflower oil.

In other markets, Brent futures rose towards $112 a barrel on Wednesday, tracking a rally in equity markets and expectations of a revival in demand growth following positive economic data from the United States and China.  In competing vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for May delivery was almost flat in late Asian trade. The most-active September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange inched up 0.1 percent. Today's Support and Resistance for benchmark May contract is located around 2,366 and 2,421 respectively.