Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Wednesday, posting their biggest intraday drop in a week as the ringgit strengthened and made the vegetable oil more expensive for holders of other currencies. The ringgit, the currency in which palm oil is traded, hit its strongest level in five-and-a-half months at 4.3100 per dollar. It was last quoted 0.2 percent stronger at 4.3170.
The benchmark palm oil contract for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 1 percent at 2,522 ringgit ($584.20) a tonne by the close of trade, its first drop in three sessions. Traded volumes stood at 37,684 lots of 25 tonnes each.
"The stronger ringgit contributed to the market's decline," said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur, even after cargo surveyor data showed April exports came in above forecasts. Data from cargo surveyors on Tuesday showed shipments of the tropical oil rising between 4.3 percent and 4.6 percent month-on-month in April. Palm oil demand usually rises before the Muslim fasting month of Ramazan, which comes at the end-May this year. The festival sees a higher usage of palm oil for cooking. In other related vegetable oils, soyabean oil on the Chicago Board of Trade declined 0.4 percent, while the September soyabean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was up 0.1 percent.