KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Monday, retracing from a two-month high reached in the previous session, as slow demand for palm and weak crude oil prices capped gains
The February benchmark palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost 1.6 percent to end the trading day at 2,402 ringgit ($555.50) a tonne. The contract closed 2.7 percent higher on Friday at 2,441 ringgit.
Traded volume stood at 38,812 lots of 25 tonnes each.
"Demand is still not coming in, that's the main reason why the market is softer today. Crude oil has also been rather depressed and this will keep a lid on prices for a while," said
a Kuala Lumpur-based trader.
"The market should come off until we see some consistent demand coming in."
Palm oil shipments from Malaysia, the world's second largest
producer, dropped 12.4 percent to 1.5 million tonnes in
November, according to government data last Thursday.
Cargo surveyors also reported a 33-35 percent drop in
exports for Malaysian palm oil products in the first ten days of
December compared with the same time period a month ago.
Crude oil fell for a seventh straight session on Monday, the
longest losing streak since mid-2014, as the International
Energy Agency's (IEA) forecast of rising supplies put pressure
on prices.
Both benchmark futures for crude oil have fallen since the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
abandoned its output ceiling on Dec. 4.
Palm is influenced by crude oil prices, as the tropical oil
is used for blending into biodiesel, a substitute for crude oil.
In competing vegetable oil markets, the May soybean oil
contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange gained 0.4
percent.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1022 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL DEC5 2220 -2.00 2220 2220 12
MY PALM OIL JAN6 2305 -37.00 2305 2340 1273
MY PALM OIL FEB6 2402 -39.00 2401 2433 20605
CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY6 4708 +28.00 4702 4786 1121998
CHINA SOYOIL MAY6 5578 +22.00 5516 5622 981652
CBOT SOY OIL JAN6 31.25 -1.30 31.19 31.47 5528
INDIA PALM OIL DEC5 408.30 -1.30 406.20 410.80 890
INDIA SOYOIL DEC5 637.35 +3.45 635.30 638.00 3655
NYMEX CRUDE JAN6 35.33 -0.29 35.19 35.69 36420
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 = 4.3240 ringgit)
($1 = 67.0500 Indian rupees)
($1 = 6.4588 Chinese yuan)- Reuters
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