* Market slips despite improving exports
* Palm neutral in 3,089-3,169 rgt/T range – technicals
(Updates with latest prices)
By Emily Chow
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Malaysian palm oil futures
declined on Wednesday, tracking weaker performing rival soyoil
and as traders closed positions ahead of the Lunar New Year
public holidays.
Palm had risen in the previous session after declining for
four consecutive days.
Benchmark palm oil futures for April delivery on
the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 0.8 percent to
3,125 ringgit ($ 704.30) a tonne at the end of the trading day.
Traded volumes stood at 41,891 lots of 25 tonnes each in the
evening.
“Production is down and exports are up, but the market is
still down. It is probably trading in a range as prices rallied
too much yesterday,” said a Kuala Lumpur-based futures trader.
“The market is seeing profit-taking before the long
holidays.”
Bursa Malaysia will be closed for the second half of the
trading day on Jan. 27, and on Jan. 30 for the Lunar New Year
celebrations.
Palm prices are also impacted by movements in prices of
related edible oils, as they compete for a share in the global
vegetable oils market.
The March soybean oil contract on CBOT was down 0.6
percent, while the May soybean oil contract on the Dalian
Commodity Exchange fell 0.6 percent.
Palm oil’s fundamentals however remain bullish, say traders
who expect output in January to decline in a seasonal trend
while exports rise.
Malaysian palm oil shipments rose 9.3 percent during the
Jan. 1-25 period versus last month, according to cargo surveyor
Intertek Testing Services on Wednesday morning.
Palm oil remains neutral in a range of 3,089-3,169 ringgit
per tonne, technical analysis by Wang Tao, Reuters market
analyst for commodities and energy technicals, showed.
In other related edible oils, the May contract for Dalian
palm olein declined 0.6 percent.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1044 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL FEB7 3260 -22.00 3242 3275 1158
MY PALM OIL MAR7 3182 -22.00 3163 3206 6103
MY PALM OIL APR7 3126 -24.00 3106 3150 18204
CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY7 6292 -38.00 6274 6382 356636
CHINA SOYOIL MAY7 6982 -40.00 6962 7072 261372
CBOT SOY OIL MAR7 35.08 -0.20 35.05 35.3 9896
INDIA PALM OIL JAN7 596.60 -0.50 594.10 596.6 519
INDIA SOYOIL FEB7 715.1 -3.00 712.3 716.4 9700
NYMEX CRUDE MAR7 52.81 -0.37 52.74 53.09 64288
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 = 4.4370 ringgit)
($ 1 = 68.1050 Indian rupees)
($ 1 = 6.8800 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Emily Chow; Editing by Vyas Mohan and David
Evans)
