JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil weakened further on Thursday after export data from the world's second-largest producer and declines in competing bean oil markets weighed on prices, but a weaker ringgit provided some support.
"The weak ringgit, that would encourage exports, but the
first 20 days export figure came out and it's not what was
expected, it was down," said a trader with a foreign commodities
brockerage in Kuala Lumpar.
Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Nov. 1-20 fell 6.4
percent to 837,659 tonnes from 894,697 tonnes for Oct. 1-20,
cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Thursday.
[MALAYSIA PALM/ITS]
The ringgit continued its decline, edging down 0.18 percent
on Thursday, and has lost 6.8 percent against the dollar since
the beginning of September. A weaker ringgit makes palm oil more
attractive to international buyers.
The benchmark February contract on the Bursa
Malaysia Derivatives Exchange ended down 0.98 percent on Thursday
at 2,223 ringgit ($660.62) per tonne.
Total traded volume stood at 36,165 lots of 25 tonnes, just
above the average 35,500 lots.
Declines in competing bean oils also dragged palm prices
lower.
"Now the e-board is trading down on the bean oil, and the
e-board on the soy bean oil is down a bit. Coupled with the
export figures from ITS, the market is under pressure," the
trader told Reuters, referring to the markets' electronic trading
boards.
The U.S. soyoil contract for December eased 0.43
percent on Thursday, while the most active May soybean oil
contract on the Dalian Commodities Exchange edged down
0.95 percent.
Technicals showed palm oil may drop to 2,213 ringgit per
tonne, as indicated by its wave pattern and a Fibonacci
projection analysis, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.
In other markets, Brent crude oil steadied above $78 a barrel
on Thursday as reports that oil producers would agree to cut
output next week offset weak economic data from China and Europe.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1403 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL DEC4 2214 -21.00 2206 2228 61
MY PALM OIL JAN5 2218 -24.00 2211 2244 3792
MY PALM OIL FEB5 2223 -22.00 2215 2247 20123
CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY5 5288 -34.00 5280 5306 168000
CHINA SOYOIL MAY5 5818 -56.00 0 0 400842
CBOT SOY OIL DEC4 32.37 +1.30 32.33 32.58 7660
INDIA PALM OIL NOV4 447.20 +1.30 445.70 448.00 395
INDIA SOYOIL NOV4 577.00 +6.10 565.70 580.00 9635
NYMEX CRUDE DEC4 74.68 +0.10 74.17 74.88 5510
Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne
India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
(1 US dollar = 6.1230 Chinese yuan)
(1 US dollar = 61.9200 Indian rupee)
(1 US dollar = 3.3650 Malaysian ringgit)
- Reuters
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