Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Tuesday as a weak technical outlook, a stronger ringgit and worries about lacklustre demand from major buyers stopped the contract from adding to the previous session's gains. By the close, the benchmark June contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives had lost 1.37 percent to 2,156 ringgit ($591) a tonne.
The price climbed as high as 2,208 ringgit on Monday after Indonesia's plan to impose levies on crude palm exports triggered hasty buying from the top producer. However, some traders warned those gains were unsustainable.
"The market opened marginally higher, but there was no follow-through to what it did yesterday," said one palm trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia.
"Technically, the market is under pressure and it could not go beyond 2,200 ringgit. Exports in the first 20 days did not improve - it's a global scenario, where people are not rushing to buy commodities."
Total traded volume stood at 49,223 lots of 25 tonnes, above the average 35,000 lots.
Indonesia is planning a charge of $50 on every tonne of crude palm oil (CPO) shipped at a zero export tax rate, with the funds going to help pay for more biodiesel subsidies. The measure has to be approved by President Joko Widodo.
Analysts say the potential levy may weigh on CPO prices in Indonesia in the short term, but could also stoke more domestic biodiesel consumption if implemented properly, which would help underpin prices.
In competing vegetable oil markets, the US soyoil contract for May fell 0.19 percent, while the most active September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.88 percent.
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