Palm falls for third day on expectations of rising stockpile

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell for a third straight session on Tuesday, slipping to a one-week low on expectations that inventories would rise due to a drop in exports and rising output.

The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 60 ringgit, or 1.63%, to 3,624 ringgit ($894.37) a tonne in early trade, hitting its lowest since Feb. 24. "The combination of higher production and lower export in Malaysia brought sellers and long liquidation," a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for February fell 4.6% to 1,052,779 tonnes from January as China and the United States cut down purchases, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said.

European Union palm oil imports in the 2020/21 season stood at 3.69 million tonnes, compared with 3.78 million a year earlier, data published by the European Commission showed.

Palm may continue to weaken as February-end inventories are likely to rise sharply, the trader said.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board is slated to release data on February-end stockpiles on March 10.

Meanwhile, Dalian's most-active soyoil contract fell 1%, while its palm oil contract slipped 3.5%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 1.1%.

Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

Palm oil may fall into a range of 3,466 ringgit to 3,545 ringgit per tonne, as it could have completed a rally from the Jan. 20 low of 3,160 ringgit, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.