Malaysian crude palm oil futures tumbled 5.9 percent on Monday to hit a 15-month low as crude oil fell further below the key $100-a-barrel milestone, dragging down other vegetable oils, traders said. Signs of weakening export demand from cargo surveyors weighed on prices which are about half record levels of 4,486 ringgit hit in early March.
The benchmark November contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell as much as 140 ringgit to 2,240 ringgit ($649) per tonne, a level unseen since June 13, 2007. "Crude oil has been a main crutch for palm oil and that appears to be giving way as well," said a trader with a local commodities brokerage. "Biodiesel hopes are now a flash in the pan."
Other traded months fell between 77 and 151 ringgit on the Malaysian exchange. Overall trade shot up to 13,793 lots of 25 tonnes each from the usual 10,000 lots. "Coupled with the steep bearish trend ... we believe it's too early to conclude the worst is over, despite the minor rebound in the daily chart," said Aseambankers analust Tee Sze Chiah in research note.
Oil tumbled to $98 a barrel on Monday on signs Hurricane Ike may have spared key US energy infrastructure and turmoil in the US financial system fanned global economic concerns. Soyoil for October delivery at the Chicago Board of Trade tumbled 2.7 percent thanks to crude oil.
Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for September 1-15 fell 8.5 percent to 616,138 tonnes from 673,264 tonnes shipped between August 1 and 15, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Monday. Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, reported a 5.8 percent fall to 605,786 tonnes.
INDONESIAN PALM DIVES AS WELL: In the Indonesia, crude palm oil prices fell as Malaysian market tanked. The state marketing centre in Jakarta sold crude palm oil at 5,982 rupiah ($0.633) a kg, down from 6,153 rupiah a kg on Friday. Producers in Medan, North Sumatra - home to Belawan port, Indonesia's key port for palm oil exports - did not hold any auctions.
Some buyers have slowed their buying because storage tanks in Belawan were still full due to an upswing in production in Sumatra, while many vessels were arriving late at the port, a dealer in a plantation firm said. "Buyers wait until storage tanks empty before purchasing fresh supplies," the dealer said. In Jakarta, refineries offered refined, bleached, deodorised (RBD) palm olein, which is used in cooking oil, higher at 6,700 rupiah a kg, up from 6,665 rupiah on Friday. But no deals reported.