FINWIRES · TerminalLIVE
FINWIRES

Asia Biofuels Update: Palm Oil Little Changed; Stronger Ringgit Caps Gains

By

Malaysian palm oil futures were steady to higher on Monday as crude oil prices remained rangebound amid persisting tensions in the Middle East, while a stronger local currency dampened export competitiveness, capping gains.

The Bursa Malaysia Derivatives' September crude palm oil contract was largely unchanged at 4,576 Malaysian ringgit ($1,124.05) per metric ton. The October contract rose 0.04% to 4,713 ringgit/mt.

Malaysian ringgit firmed against the US dollar by around 0.4% on Monday, making exports more expensive for foreign buyers. This could impact competitiveness of Malaysian shipments, which have so far shown resilience since June.

Industry data showed that the country's exports grew month over month by 7.2% and 14.5% in June and July, respectively, while cargo surveyor estimates reportedly showed a 2.6% to 14.8% rise in Aug. 1-10 shipments versus the same period of the previous month.

Demand from top buyer India largely supported exports as palm oil purchases reportedly grew 50% from a month earlier to 730,965 metric tons, with buyers stocking up ahead of festivities.

Malaysia surpassed Indonesia to become India's leading supplier of palm oil in the first nine months of the 2025/26 marketing year, the Hindu Business Line reported, citing data from the Solvent Extractors' Association of India.

In the EU, Indonesia's export performance also declined in the current 2026/27 marketing year that began on July 1. As of Aug. 9, the EU has imported 82,000 mt of Indonesian palm oil, down 30.1% from a year earlier, according to data cited by market intelligence provider SunSirs.

This represents a drop in the producer's market share in the EU to 30.2% from 33.9%, which "indicates weak overseas demand," SunSirs said. "This exerts downward pressure on spot palm oil prices and is considered a generally bearish factor."

Indonesia's increased 50% biodiesel blend, introduced in July, is expected to trim the country's exportable supplies, likely further impacting its market share.

In the long term, "Indonesia's B50 policy and El Nino-related production cut expectations continue to provide underlying support for far-month prices," price reporting agency MySteel said.

The El Nino weather phenomenon is expected to have a greater impact on palm oil, rice, and sugar, which are mainly produced in Asia, compared with other global agricultural commodities, such as soybeans, wheat, and corn, the Business Times reported.

Related Articles

Commodities

US Natural Gas Prices Rise After 6-Week Slide Despite Bearish Inventory Build

After six consecutive weeks in the red, US natural gas prices finally caught a break and ended the week up, despite the higher-than-expected gas injection into storage.In the futures market, the Nymex front-month contract ended the week at $2.71 per million British thermal units on Friday, up from $2.67/MMBtu on Aug. 7.Natural gas spot prices increased to $2.82/MMBtu on Wednesday, up $0.22/MMBtu, according to the US Energy Information Administration's Weekly Gas Storage Supplement, released on Thursday.This comes amid warmer-than-normal temperatures throughout the week, with July being reported as the hottest month on record. Total gas demand surged 3.9 billion cubic feet per day, or 5%, driven by a 3.4 Bcf/d, or 8%, increase in power sector demand, according to S&P Global Energy.Meanwhile, gas output remained broadly unchanged, averaging 116.7 Bcf/d, along with net imports from Canada at 5.7 Bcf/d.US LNG feedgas flows averaged around 17.0 Bcf/d during the second week of August, which is below the Summer peak of 19 Bcf/d in April, according to data from Gas Processing News.The net injection into storage for the week ended Aug. 7 was 36 Bcf, up from last week's 33 Bcf, bringing total gas inventories to 3,153 Bcf, according to weekly EIA inventory data.Storage injections were above forecasts, which had expected a net build of 31 Bcf, and the five-year average for this period, at 33 Bcf, but were below the prior year's net injection of 49 Bcf during the same week, according to data compiled by Investing.com.All regions barring the Pacific reported a net injection for the week ended Aug. 7, which reported a withdrawal of 4 Bcf.The Midwest and East regions reported the highest net injections of 20 Bcf and 15 Bcf, respectively, followed by the South Central and Mountains regions at 3 Bcf and 2 Bcf, respectively.At 3,153 Bcf, total US working gas in storage was 25 Bcf, or 1% below the same period last year, but 198 Bcf, or 7% above the five-year average for this period.After several days of milder temperatures, weather forecasts turned bullish over the week, with above-normal temperatures expected to blanket almost the whole of the country, barring parts of the Northeast, from Aug. 21 through Aug. 27, according ot the National Weather Service.According to Pinebrook Energy Advisors, lingering heat across Texas and the Southeast continued to support elevated power-sector demand, while "strong production and healthy inventories" remained significant headwinds as the market approached the end of the peak summer demand season.The analysts also noted that storage growth had outpaced the seasonal benchmark for "four consecutive weeks and seven of the past eight" weeks, leading to a tidy surplus in storage.A total of 36 LNG carriers departed US ports during the week, up five from the prior week, with a total combined capacity of 134 Bcf, up 15 Bcf from last week.Meanwhile, the US gas rig count was up by four from 124 the previous week to 128 in the week ending Aug. 14, according to data from Baker Hughes (BKR) released Friday. That compares with 122 gas rigs in operation a year earlier.The consolidated North American oil and gas rig count, a key early indicator of future production levels, increased by eight to 812 from 804 the previous week.In international markets, European TTF gas prices averaged $19.75/MMBtu for the week ended Aug. 12, $0.61/MMBtu above the prior week. Meanwhile, the Japan-Korea Marker averaged $21.19/MMBtu, about $0.04/MMBtu below the prior week.

$BKR
Commodities

Correction: Energy Transfer's Green Chile Pipeline Delayed to February 2027

(Corrects the headline and paragraphs 1-4 to reflect that the pipeline project has been delayed.)Energy Transfer's (ET) Green Chile Project pipeline, a key New Mexico natural gas project that would supply power-generation systems for a planned Oracle (ORCL) data center, has been delayed by almost six months and is now expected to enter service next year, according to regulatory filings on Friday.The Green Chile Project pipeline now has an estimated in-service date of Feb. 1, 2027, pushing past its earlier targeted date of Aug. 15, 2026, pipeline operator Energy Transfer's subsidiary, Transwestern Pipeline Company, said in the filing.The revised timeline was disclosed in Transwestern's response to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission data request, which also updated the project's cost figures to reflect actual expenditures through June 2026.The filing does not specify a cause for the delay but shows that construction activity has been underway since April 2026, with the company now estimating expenditures through the project's revised in-service date next year.The Green Chile Project in New Mexico would enable Transwestern to provide up to 400,000 dekatherms per day of new firm transportation capacity to serve the AI data center, the company said in its response to a FERC data request dated Aug. 11.Transwestern initially filed a prior notice request with FERC on Jan. 29 seeking authorization under the Natural Gas Act and its blanket certificate to construct, install, own, maintain and operate the project facilities.

$ET$ORCL
Commodities

US Natural Gas Update: Prices Fall on Supply Concerns

US natural gas prices reversed earlier gains in after-hours trading to finish lower on Friday, as ample supplies outweighed bullish sentiment sparked by forecasts for hotter weather in the second half of August.The front-month Henry Hub contract and the continuous contract both fell 0.44% to $2.715 per million British thermal units.Lingering heat across Texas and the Southeast is expected to keep cooling demand elevated through the second half of August, but the strongest temperature anomalies are increasingly shifting away from major population centers in the Midwest and Northeast, according to Pinebrook Energy Advisors' Guide.Aegis Hedging said the Midcontinent Independent System Operator issued a hot-weather alert for its South Region, covering southeastern Texas, Louisiana and parts of Arkansas and Mississippi. The advisory is effective through Aug. 16.Any increase in demand from the southern US, however, is expected to be readily met as supplies remain robust.The US Energy Information Administration said on Thursday that natural gas storage inventories had risen to their highest level in 10 years, nearly 200 billion cubic feet, or 6.7%, above the five-year seasonal average following a larger-than-expected 36 Bcf weekly injection.Domestic production has also shown renewed signs of growth, with recent daily estimates approaching 113 Bcf/d.Energy Transfer (ET) recently said it expects its Hugh Brinson pipeline to operate at full capacity of 1.5 Bcf/d by September, allowing more gas to flow from the Permian Basin to the Henry Hub in Louisiana.With production strengthening and inventories well above seasonal norms, the natural gas market is expected to remain well supplied as the summer cooling season winds down.Estimated gas flows to US LNG export terminals were around 18.1 Bcf/d on Friday, down 0.9% from the prior week, BNEF said.A total of 31 LNG carriers departed US ports during the week, down four from the prior week, with combined capacity of 119 Bcf, down 16 Bcf from the previous week, the EIA reported.G&A said LNG feedgas demand is forecast at around 19.9 Bcf/d on Saturday and above 20 Bcf/d through much of the two-week outlook, although scheduled pipeline maintenance at Corpus Christi could briefly interrupt that ramp-up next week.

$ET