JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures eased on Monday, tracking other vegetable oils lower as cautious traders eyed the negative impacts of a possible default by Greece on its debt repayment.
The September palm oil contract on the Bursa
Malaysia Derivatives exchange ended down 0.5 percent at 2,266
ringgit ($599) a tonne at the close, after trading in a range of
2,260 to 2,277 ringgit.
Palm prices have fallen about 2 percent so far in June and
touched a three-week low last week.
"Regional equities are all depressed today," said a palm
trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia. "People
are watching whether the Shanghai stock market's big drop will
indirectly impact commodity prices."
European shares sank almost 4 percent and government bond
yields in Italy, Spain and Portugal jumped on Monday as
investors priced in a growing risk that Greece will be the first
country to leave the euro.
China shares dived another 3 percent, bringing the losses in
the past two weeks to 25 percent, with the Chinese central
bank's measures on Saturday to support the economy unable to
calm jittery investors.
China is a top buyer of palm, which is used mainly as an
ingredient in food such as biscuits and ice cream, and in the
production of biofuels.
Total traded volume for palm was thin at the close with only
19,111 lots of 25 tonnes each changing hands, compared with the
usual 35,000 lots.
Palm oil may consolidate in a neutral range of 2,250-2,293
ringgit per tonne for one day before rising again, according to
Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.
In other vegetable oils, the U.S. July soyoil contract
was down 0.8 percent, while the most active January
soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange
slipped 1.4 percent.
"The only friendly factor is the ringgit," said a second
palm trader, adding that Malaysia's June palm export data from
cargo surveyors on Tuesday may offer future direction.
The Malaysian ringgit traded at a 10-year low and
is the currency that benchmark palm is priced in, offering some
support to the tropical oil.
In related news, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister of
Economic Affairs, Sofyan Djalil, told reporters that the world's
top producer would now introduce a levy on palm exports on July
16, instead of July 1 as planned.
"There are so many technical matters, such as adjusting the
export tax," Djalil said. "We can collect on July 16."
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1017 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL JUL5 2278 +0.00 2270 2291 90
MY PALM OIL AUG5 2268 -10.00 2261 2276 2650
MY PALM OIL SEP5 2266 -12.00 2260 2277 11296
CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN6 5106 -54.00 5074 5204 854502
CHINA SOYOIL JAN6 5782 -84.00 5762 5894 659902
CBOT SOY OIL DEC5 33.39 -0.90 33.33 33.65 6461
INDIA PALM OIL JUN5 452.60 -0.90 452.10 453.10 292
INDIA SOYOIL AUG5 585.80 -0.55 583.50 586.10 30555
NYMEX CRUDE AUG5 58.25 -1.38 58.21 59.12 36062
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 = 3.7825 ringgit)
($1 = 6.2085 Chinese yuan renminbi)
($1 = 63.8900 Indian rupees)
- Reuters
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