VEGOILS-Palm oil reverses course amid production growth uncertainty

(Rewrites with updated prices, adds details) JAKARTA, March 21 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures dropped on Thursday, erasing earlier gains, amid uncertainty over production growth and some correction in rival vegetable oils. The benchmark palm oil contract FCPOc3 for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed down 0.54% at 4,249 ringgit ($901.55) per metric ton, after rising as much as 0.96% earlier in the day. The contract weakened after the Southern Peninsular Palm Oil Millers Association (SPPOMA) reported higher output figures for March 1-20, a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said, and as rival palm oil on the Dalian exchange gave up most of its gains. The SPPOMA data showed production for the period was up 22.4%, the trader said, while market awaited wider production data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Association for further guidance. Dalian's palm oil contract DCPv1 rose 0.7% on Thursday, scaling back from intraday gains of 2.87% which had brought it to its highest level since Dec. 2022. Meanwhile, Dalian's soyoil contract DBYv1 rose 1.36% and soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade BOc2 were barely changed. Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share of the global vegetable oils market. "On the physical side, actually palm demand is not that great. The supply is there, and some places rival oils are comparatively cheaper than palm. To have continuation of upside for CPO (crude palm oil) futures, rival oilseeds have to go higher," another trader said. Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for March 1-20 were seen up between 7.4% and 16.3% from the same period last month, cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Amspec Agri said. Palm oil may rise into a range of 4,751-4,859 ringgit per metric ton in the second quarter, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said. TECH/C ($1 = 4.7130 ringgit) (Reporting by Bernadette Christina and Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Varun H K) (([email protected])) ((For a table on Malaysian physical palm oil prices, including refined oil, Reuters Terminal users can double click on or type OILS/MY01 . * To view freight rates from Peninsula Malaysia/Sumatra to China, India, Pakistan and Rotterdam, please key in OILS/ASIA2 and press enter, or double click between the brackets. * Reuters Terminal users can see cash and futures edible oil prices by double clicking on the codes in the brackets: To go to the next page in the same chain, hit F12. To go back, hit F11. Vegetable oils OILS/ASIA1 Malaysian palm oil exports SGSPALM1 CBOT soyoil futures 0#BO: CBOT soybean futures 0#S: Indian solvent SOLVENT01 Dalian Commodity Exchange DC/MENU Dalian soyoil futures 0#DBY: Dalian refined palm oil futures 0#DCP: Zhengzhou rapeseed oil 0#COI: European edible oil prices/trades OILS/E ))