JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures extended losses on Friday, tracking weakness in rival vegetable oils at the Chicago and Dalian exchanges and booked a weekly loss.
The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost 17 ringgit, or 0.35%, to 4,904 ringgit ($1,102.77) a metric ton on the closing.
The contract fell 4.37% for the week.
“The futures seem to be trading range bound, awaiting fresh lead. Got to see how Dalian exchange behaves to decide on the direction,” a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said.
Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract fell 1.2%, while its palm oil contract gained 0.5%. Soyoil lost 0.56% at the Chicago Board of Trade.
Palm oil tracks price movements of rival edible oils as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market.
Palm trades low on sell-off, tracks weakness in soyoil at Chicago
Malaysia’s palm oil production is set to fall for the fourth consecutive month in December as heavy rainfall hit harvesting in the world’s second-largest producer of the tropical oil, the industry regulator told Reuters on Friday.
Meanwhile, India’s palm oil imports in November fell 0.4% from October to 841,993 metric tons, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India said.
Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services predicted export of Malaysian palm oil products for Dec. 1-10 to have risen 3.9%, while independent inspection company AmSpec Agri Malaysia forecast a 1.1% rise.
Oil prices nudged upwards on Friday, heading for their first weekly rise since the end of November, as additional sanctions on Iran and Russia ratcheted up supply worries, while a surplus outlook weighed on markets.
Stronger crude oil futures make palm a more attractiveoption for biodiesel feedstock.
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