Palm slips on weak Dalian palm oil, crude

New Straits Times

6 hours ago

JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures traded lower on Monday, paring the previous session's gains, as weakness in Dalian palm oil and crude oil prices weighed on sentiment.
The benchmark palm oil contract for September delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost RM44, or one per cent, to RM3,967 (US$941.39) a metric tonne by the midday break.
"The futures is tracking external Dalian palm oil and crude oil performance while waiting for new lead," a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said.
Dalian's most active soyoil contract fell 0.32 per cent, while its palm oil contract dropped 0.69 per cent. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose 0.42 per cent.
Palm oil tracks the price movements of rival edible oils as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market.
Oil prices fell on Monday as an easing of geopolitical risks in the Middle East and the prospect of another OPEC+ output hike in August improved supply expectations amid persistent uncertainty over the outlook for global demand.
Weaker crude oil futures make palm a less attractive option for biodiesel feedstock.
The RM, palm's currency of trade, strengthened 0.28 per cent against the US dollar, making the commodity more expensive for buyers holding foreign currencies.
Cargo surveyors estimated exports of Malaysian palm oil products for June 1–25 to have risen between 6.6 per cent and 6.8 per cent month-on-month.
Malaysia has lowered its July crude palm oil reference price, a change that reduces the export duty to 8.5 per cent from 9.5 per cent in June, a circular on the Malaysian Palm Oil Board website showed.
Palm oil may break resistance at RM4,017 per metric tonne and rise toward the RM4,049–RM4,066 range, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.