Malaysian palm oil price down after lower export data

JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures dropped on Friday as weak export figures worried traders, but the soft dollar helped to limit losses.
    Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Mar. 1-20 fell
7.1 percent from the same period last month to 652,837 tonnes
cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said on Friday.
 
    Another cargo surveyor, Intertek Testing Services showed
exports for the same period fell 5.5 percent. 
    "The slower exports in the current month is worrying the
market," said a trader with a local commodities brokerage based
in Kuala Lumpur.
    The benchmark June contract on the Bursa Malaysia
Derivatives lost 2.04 percent to close at 2,160 ringgit 
($579).
    Total traded volume stood at 54,306 lots of 25 tonnes,
higher than the average 35,000 lots.     
    "The Fed's move to further (delay) the interest rate hike
sending the dollar lower was a supportive factor today," a
second Kuala Lumpur-based trader said. 
    The dollar steadied on Friday after rebounding from the
shock of a surprisingly dovish U.S. Federal Reserve, which
signalled a slower pace of interest rate hikes earlier this
week. 
    The softer greenback supported competing edible oils, those
priced in the dollar, as they became cheaper for buyers holding
other currencies, and that lent support to palm oil.    
    In other vegetable oil markets, the most active September
soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange
fell 0.22 percent, while the U.S. soyoil contract for May
 inched down 0.56 percent.
    Brent crude fell towards $54 a barrel on Friday and was on
track for its third straight weekly loss, hurt by oversupply
worries after Kuwait said OPEC had no choice but to maintain
output levels. 
 Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1035 GMT
                                                               
 Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
 MY PALM OIL      APR5    2165   -42.00    2165    2207     276
 MY PALM OIL      MAY5    2165   -45.00    2165    2216    8799
 MY PALM OIL      JUN5    2160   -45.00    2155    2211   25089
 CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP5    4688   -30.00    4678    4756  593376
 CHINA SOYOIL     SEP5    5412   -22.00    5394    5456  514352
 CBOT SOY OIL     MAY5   30.45    -4.30   30.39   30.77    6402
 INDIA PALM OIL   MAR5  434.60    -4.30  434.60  441.40     437
 INDIA SOYOIL     APR5  577.60    +0.60  575.70  580.40   20135
 NYMEX CRUDE      APR5   43.74    -0.22   43.38   44.01    1503
                                                               
 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 = 3.7290 ringgit)
($1 = 6.2037 Chinese yuan renminbi)
($1 = 62.5175 Indian rupees)
- Reuters