Palm falls on Dalian’s palm oil weakness, books second monthly drop

JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures declined on Friday, and fell for a second straight month, weighed down by weaker palm oil inthe Dalian market.

The benchmark palm oil contract for January delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost 55 ringgit, or 1.29%, to 4,205 ringgit ($995.50) a metric ton at the close.

The contract lost 3.38% in October.

“Today’s future will follow Dalian’s palm oil down,” a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract lost 0.25%, while its palm oil contract fell 0.63%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade dropped 0.1%.

Palm oil tracks the price movements of rival edible oils as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for October rose 4.3% to 1,501,945 tonnes from 1,439,845 tonnes shipped during September, independent inspection company AmSpec Agri Malaysia said on Friday.

Indonesia has set a crude palm oil reference price of $963.75 per metric ton for November, up slightly from $963.61 per ton in October, a Trade Ministry regulation showed.

U.S. soybean futures hit a 15-month high on Thursday, after U.S. officials said top importer China agreed to buy tens of millions of metric tons of American crops in the next few years as part of a trade truce, analysts said.

The ringgit palm’s currency of trade, strengthened 0.26% against the dollar, making palm oil less attractive for buyers holding foreign currencies.