Malaysian palm oil price down for third day, lowest in a week

JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures slipped for a third session to their lowest in more than a week, tracking declines in competing oil markets.
    By Tuesday's close, the benchmark August contract on the Bursa
Malaysia Derivatives exchange had declined 1.1 percent to 2,157 ringgit
($600.84) a tonne. Earlier in the session it touched 2,154 ringgit, its lowest
since May 8. 
    Total traded volume stood at 34,049 lots of 25 tonnes each, below the
average of 35,000 lots.
    "The palm market is in a bit of a dilemma," said a trader with a foreign
commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur, noting that local fundamental data was
generally supportive but external markets were negative. Palm was trading in a
$10 range in the absence of clear signals. 
    "Initially the market was ramped up because of El Nino talk, but we've seen
this for the past two years and nothing happens," the trader said, adding that
he was also watching for information on the imminent Indian monsoon season.
    "There could be some problems in oilseed-producing areas. But if India has a
normal monsoon, the market will not go anywhere."
    Traders are watching for export data for the first 20 days of May, due 
tomorrow, he said.
    Technical charts show that palm is still targeting 2,148 ringgit a tonne,
having rebound from the April 29 low of 2,070. 
    
  
    The Malaysian ringgit edged 0.61 percent lower against the dollar on
Tuesday and is down 0.78 percent this week.
    In other markets, Brent crude oil fell below $66 a barrel on a stronger 
dollar and evidence of ample supplies of Middle Eastern oil despite wars in
northern Iraq, Syria and Yemen. 
    The U.S. July soyoil contract edged down for a third day, easing 0.58
percent in late Asian trade, while the most active September soybean oil
contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange also lost 0.58 percent.

 Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1218 GMT
                                                                
 Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
 MY PALM OIL      JUN5    2167   -23.00    2165    2180    1565
 MY PALM OIL      JUL5    2165   -22.00    2161    2180    5810
 MY PALM OIL      AUG5    2157   -24.00    2154    2175   16618
 CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP5       0    +0.00       0       0       0
 CHINA SOYOIL     SEP5       0    +0.00       0       0       0
 CBOT SOY OIL     JUL5   32.60    -3.10   32.55   32.90    7179
 INDIA PALM OIL   MAY5  446.80    -3.10  445.40  450.30    1575
 INDIA SOYOIL     JUN5  598.50    -4.40  597.20  602.80   38950
 NYMEX CRUDE      JUN5   58.81    -0.63   58.70   59.63    3796
                                                                
 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 = 3.5900 ringgit)     
($1 = 6.2064 Chinese yuan)
($1 = 63.6887 Indian rupees)
- Reuetrs