Palm oil prices hit 10-month low as Malaysia exports fall

13 Jul, 2016

Malaysian palm oil futures plunged to a near 10-month low on Tuesday after data showed exports plummeted more than expected and on a appreciating ringgit. Benchmark palm oil futures for September delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange were down 2.3 percent at 2,188 ringgit ($552.53) a tonne, after falling to 2,186 ringgit, the lowest level since September 22, 2015.
Traded volumes stood at 42,817 lots of 25 tonnes each on Tuesday evening, lower than the 2015 average of 44,600.
Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) figures showed the country's palm exports dropped nearly 12 percent in June from May. A Reuters poll had pegged June exports at 1.2 million tonnes, down 6.4 percent from May after Ramadan.
"There is fundamentally nothing bullish about the market," a trader based in Kuala Lumpur said, adding that palm oil prices could take cues from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data due later on Tuesday. The USDA will issue its latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report.
The September contract for soybean oil, a substitute for palm oil, on the Dalian Commodity Exchange slipped 0.17 percent, while the most actively traded September contract for palm olein gained 0.56 percent.
China is the world's second-largest palm oil consumer behind India.
US soyoil futures were down 0.43 percent.

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