KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures slipped to their lowest in over a week on Monday as gains in the local currency made the ringgit-denominated commodity more expensive for overseas buyers and refiners.
Malaysia's ringgit outperformed regional peers to climb 0.42
percent to 3.3415 on Monday, after the government decided to scrap fuel
subsidies, a move seen helping state coffers save some 20 billion ringgit ($6
billion) annually.
"The ringgit strengthened and added a bit of pressure on palm oil prices,"
said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur. "There's no
other strong sentiment, the market should trade in a range of 2,200-2,250
ringgit."
The benchmark February contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives
Exchange slipped to 2,200 ringgit in intraday trade, its lowest since Nov. 14,
before settling 1.3 percent lower at 2,204 ringgit ($658) per tonne by Monday's
close.
Total traded volume stood at 35,585 lots of 25 tonnes, above the usual
35,000 lots.
Market players say prices of palm, which have dropped more than 17 percent
so far this year, could be caught in range trading towards end-November and
December unless there is a big change in its production or demand scene.
Supply of oil palm typically tightens towards the year-end as the rainy
monsoon season hampers harvesting and yield growth, but export demand also
dwindles as some foreign buyers cut back imports of the tropical oil that clouds
in cold temperatures.
"We have the friendly weather market that is supporting prices, but the
problem is exports are not good," the Kuala Lumpur-based trader added.
Brent crude oil stabilised around $80 a barrel on Monday as world powers met
in Vienna for the final day of talks on Iran's nuclear programme ahead of a key
meeting of producer group OPEC to discuss production.
In other competing vegetable oil markets, the U.S. soyoil contract for
December shed 0.4 percent in late Asian trade, while the most active May
soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodities Exchange rose 0.4
percent.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1052 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL DEC4 2193 -20.00 2192 2230 187
MY PALM OIL JAN5 2197 -28.00 2194 2233 3735
MY PALM OIL FEB5 2204 -30.00 2200 2239 22132
CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY5 5306 +10.00 5306 5368 1043598
CHINA SOYOIL MAY5 5870 +26.00 5858 5920 486200
CBOT SOY OIL JAN5 32.70 -2.10 32.65 32.86 14659
INDIA PALM OIL NOV4 448.90 -2.10 448.40 451.80 204
INDIA SOYOIL DEC4 592.15 +1.25 590.80 593.30 22550
NYMEX CRUDE JAN5 76.71 +0.20 76.32 76.95 20268
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 = 3.351 Malaysian ringgit)
($1 = 6.1417 Chinese yuan)
($1 = 61.92 Indian rupee)- Reuetrs
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