Malaysian palm oil down

Malaysian palm oil futures fell to a four-month low on Wednesday evening, a third consecutive session of losses as the ringgit strengthened against the dollar, making the tropical oil more expensive for holders of foreign currencies. The market also tracked weaker related oils and was dented by expectations of falling export demand.
The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 0.9 percent to 2,563 ringgit ($628.19) a tonne at the close of trade. It earlier fell to an intraday low of 2,560 ringgit, its weakest level since July 24. Traded volumes stood at 31,906 lots of 25 tonnes each at the end of the trading day.
"Palm fell on the ringgit," said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur, referring to palm's traded currency which was up 0.5 percent at 4.0800 per dollar. Palm was also weighed down by related edible oils, such as soyaoil on the Chicago Board of Trade and China's Dalian Commodity Exchange, said a trader, along with expectations of weaker demand indicated by data from cargo surveyors.
"The market is lacking any positive catalysts," he said, adding that the market was also awaiting production data at the end of November. Malaysian palm oil output rose 12.9 percent month-on-month to 2 million tonnes at the end of October. Further gains in production could add to stockpiles and weigh on prices.
Palm oil exports from Malaysia fell 8.4-8.6 percent during Nov. 1-25 compared with the corresponding period last month, according to cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance. Data for the full month of November is scheduled for release after 0300 GMT on Thursday. In other related edible oils, the December soyabean oil contract on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 0.8 percent, while the January soyabean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was down 1 percent.
Dalian's January palm olein contract dropped 0.1 percent. Palm oil is impacted by movements in other edible oils as they compete for a share of the global vegetable oils market. Palm oil may fall into a range of 2,519-2,555 ringgit per tonne, said Reuters' market analyst for commodities and energy technicals, Wang Tao.