KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures closed at their lowest in three weeks on Friday, marking a weekly drop, as the oilseed tracked losses in rival Dalian edible oils.
The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 107 ringgit, or 2.54%, to 4,098 ringgit ($907.04) a tonne, its lowest since Feb. 17. For the week, palm lost 5.8%, snapping a four-week gain.
Offering some support, exports from Malaysia during March 1-10 surged between 45.3% and 52.1% from the same period in February, cargo suveryors said.
Malaysia’s end-February palm oil inventories tumbled 6.6% to 2.12 million tonnes from prior month, its lowest in six months, data by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) showed.
Production declined 9.35% from January to 1.25 million tonnes, while exports slipped 1.99% to 1.11 million tonnes, MPOB said.
Russia said on Thursday that a landmark deal to ensure the safe export of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports was only being “half-implemented”, raising doubts about whether it would allow an extension of the agreement due to expire next week.
Dalian’s most active soyoil contract fell 2.1% while its palm oil contract lost 1.7 percent. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 0.2 percent.