Oilseeds and soyoil futures rose on Wednesday on good demand in local spot markets and as dryness in Argentina, a key soybean exporter, boosted overseas oilseed futures.
The gains were capped by a strong rupee, which makes edible oil imports cheaper and at the same time trims returns of oilmeal exporters.
US soybeans rose for a fourth straight session with prices underpinned by dry weather hurting crops in top exporter Argentina.
As of 0805 GMT, Malaysian palm oil futures were up 1.25 per cent at 2,506 ringgit per tonne, while US soybeans rose 0.36 per cent to $14.57 per bushel.
"The rally in overseas prices and strong demand in local spot markets are supporting oilseeds," said Chowda Reddy, a senior analyst with JRG Wealth Management.
"In case of soybean, arrivals are coming down. Currently futures are trading in discount to spot. Futures are now chasing firmness in spot prices," said Reddy.
The actively traded soyoil contract for February delivery on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange was 0.76 per cent higher at 731 rupees per 10 kg.
The most-active soybeans contract for February delivery was up 0.52 per cent at 3,272 rupees per 100 kg, while rapeseed contract for April climbed 0.38 per cent to 3,436 rupees per 100 kg.
At the Indore spot market in Madhya Pradesh, soyoil edged up by 1.1 rupees to 755.5 rupees per 10 kg, while soybeans rose by 5 rupees to 3,316 rupees per 100 kg. At Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, rapeseed dropped 120 rupees to 3,950 rupees.
India raised the base import price of crude palm oil by nearly 80 per cent to $802 per tonne, as part of efforts to curb overseas purchases and protect domestic oilseed farmers.
India has slapped a 2.5 per cent import duty on crude edible oils to stem overseas purchases by the world's top vegetable oil buyer.
The upward revision in palm oil import duty is making overseas purchases costlier and supporting all edible oils, Reddy said.
