By Fergus Jensen
JAKARTA, July 27 (Reuters) – Malaysian palm oil futures
declined to their lowest in nearly three weeks on Monday as
traders sold positions after data showed exports fell this
month, and as competing oil markets weighed on prices.
By the midday break, the benchmark palm oil for October
delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange
had slipped 0.92 percent to 2,158 ringgit ($ 565.96) a tonne. The
contract hit 2,144 ringgit, its lowest since July 8, earlier in
the session.
Total traded volume stood at 18,621 lots of 25 tonnes each,
above the average 13,500 lots traded by midday.
“The market is weak. The export figure is bearish,” said a
trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur,
adding that competing markets also fell.
“Every indicator points to the market being weak, and our
palm will continue the movement down.”
Export data released by cargo surveyor Intertek Testing
Services (ITS) for July 1-25, showed a nearly 18 percent decline
in shipments of Malaysian palm oil at 1,152,045 tonnes compared
with 1,400,162 tonnes shipped during June 1-25.
For palm prices to break the current downtrend, exports need
to pick up, the trader said.
“We need demand from the consuming countries because from
this point onwards, all the way to November, our production will
be rising.”
In competing markets, oil prices fell on Monday after
closing the previous session at their lowest levels since March
on renewed oversupply concerns from the United States and Iraq,
although a weaker dollar helped to limit deeper losses.
The U.S. soyoil contract for August was down 0.39
percent in early Asian trade, while the most active January
soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange
lost 1.82 percent. Dalian RBD palm oil for September delivery
was down 1.72 percent.
Chicago Board of Trade November soybean futures was
down 1.35 percent at $ 9.52 a bushel, near the session low of
$ 9.50 a bushel – the lowest since June 23. Soybeans have dropped
for nine sessions out of 10.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0541 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL AUG5 2160 -20.00 2149 2160 235
MY PALM OIL SEP5 2159 -19.00 2146 2160 2781
MY PALM OIL OCT5 2158 -20.00 2144 2159 8940
CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN6 4774 -96.00 4746 4874 560796
CHINA SOYOIL JAN6 5502 -92.00 5474 5592 561264
CBOT SOY OIL DEC5 30.74 -1.30 30.64 30.91 6548
INDIA PALM OIL JUL5 426.80 -1.30 425.00 426.80 91
INDIA SOYOIL AUG5 568.45 -1.50 566.40 568.80 7685
NYMEX CRUDE SEP5 47.91 -0.23 47.79 48.15 8538
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 = 3.8130 ringgit)
(Reporting by Fergus Jensen; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
