By Wang Lan (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-10-29 17:26

Five out of six palm oil futures contracts, debuting today in Dalian Commodity Exchange, surged to the daily maximum, driven largely by traders' expectation of rising spot prices and market enthusiasm for this new hedging tool.

Contracts for delivery in January, February, March, May and September, rocketed up the daily allowable limit of 8 percent to 8,424 yuan (US$1,126) per ton from their opening prices, in the early hours of trading. Contracts for delivery in April rose 7.95 percent, just below the limit, to close at 8,420 yuan per ton. The combined turnover of all the six contracts totaled 340 million yuan.

Analysts said the price rise in the spot market of palm oil helped push futures prices up. The spot price of palm oil quoted today on the Huangpu seaport in Guangzhou reached 8,350 yuan per ton, up 4.3 percent from last week.

Palm oil is an important ingredient in many processed food products, including instant noodles and biscuits. China imports all the palm oil it consumes.

In 2006, China imported 5 million tons of palm oil, up 17 percent from the year before.

In the first six months of 2007, China imported 2.36 million tons of palm oil. Aggregate imports of palm oil in 2007 are estimated to reach 5.2 million tons, up 1.2 percent from the year before.