JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures plunged for a third session on Wednesday and hit a new low due to weaker rival oils and negative export data in May.

The benchmark palm oil contract for August delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 5.82% to 3,205 ringgit ($722.66) per tonne at closing.

The contract booked a third monthly drop on Wednesday to close down 3.98% from 3,338 ringgit per tonne at the end of April.

Today’s closing was also the lowest since November 2020.

Palm oil logs worst day in two weeks as rival oils drop

“FCPO prices extended losses and marked a new low for the year as seeing continuous weakness in rival oilseeds. Negative export data of May 1-31 coupled with further drop in soybean oil at noon invited fresh selling in the second session,” a Kuala Lumpur-based trader told Reuters.

Malaysia’s exports during May fell 0.8% from April, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Wednesday. Another cargo surveyor, AmSpec Agri Malaysia, said exports fall 1.8%.

Indonesia has set its crude palm oil (CPO) reference price at $811.68 per tonne for the period of June 1-15. The new reference price would place CPO export tax at $33 per tonne and levy at $85, lower from the previous period.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract fell 3.88%, while its palm oil contract was down 4.87%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade dropped 2.1%.

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