Palm oil jumps 2.5% to a new high

MALAYSIAN crude palm oil futures climbed to a new high today, rising 2.5 per cent, on the back of record soybean oil and crude oil prices.Traders said prices of palm oil, used in products ranging from cosmetics and confectionaries to biodiesel, could rise further as production takes a hit after monsoon flooding last month.The benchmark March contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose as much as RM77 to RM3,159 (US$955) per tonne, surpassing the previous record of RM3,150 set last week.“It will go up, look at what is happening to crude oil and soybean oil,” said a trader with a domestic brokerage. “We are in the middle of a strong bull run.” Oil prices fell slightly today after leaping to a lifetime high of US$100 the day before amid a new-year rush of investor demand fuelled by expectations of thinning US stockpiles, the falling US dollar and geopolitical risks.Vegetable oils, such as palm and soybean oil, often track crude oil prices because of growing use of edible oils in the making of biofuels, which compete with petroleum.Soyoil notched an all-time high when the August contract touched 52.43 cents, surpassing the previous record of 51 cents a lb set in October 1974. - Reuter