KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures were little change on Friday but logged a fourth consecutive week of losses, as declining exports and lower soybean oil prices weighed.
The benchmark palm oil contract for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed down 4 ringgit, or 0.10%, to 3,842 ringgit ($810.89) per metric ton.
The contract lost 1.39% this week. Although production in Malaysia has started improving, palm oil exports in the world’s second-biggest producer were falling, a Mumbai-based trader with a global trade house said.
“April exports were down... this is weighing on sentiment. The price drop in soybean oil is also putting pressure,” the trader said. Malaysian palm oil exports fell between 9% and 11.5% in April from a month earlier, cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Amspec Agri said.
A Reuters poll forecast April exports declined by 7.79% month-on-month to 1.22 million tons amid stiff price competition from other edible oils, especially sunflower oil. While the soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up, it hovered near four-year lows reached earlier this year amid plentiful supply, and speculators are still betting on lower prices.
Soyoil prices on CBOT were down 0.35%. The Dalian Commodity Exchange is closed until May 5 for International Labour Day holidays. Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.
Palm oil imports in India, the world’s biggest importer of vegetable oils, jumped 41% in April from the previous month to the highest level in three months as easing prices prompted refiners to increase purchases, five dealers told Reuters.
The ringgit, palm’s currency of trade, strengthened 0.29% against the dollar, making the commodity more expensive for buyers holding the foreign currency.
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