Palm falls on weak rival edible oils, rising output, sluggish demand
The benchmark palm oil contract for October delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid RM28 ringgit, or 0.65 per cent, to RM4,250 (US$1,000) a metric ton at the midday break.
Crude palm oil futures traded lower tracking weakness in the Chicago soybean oil and Dalian palm olein market during Asian hours, said David Ng, a proprietary trader at Kuala Lumpur-based trading firm Iceberg X Sdn Bhd.
"The persistent concern over rising output and weak export also added pressure on the market," he said.
Cargo surveyors will release their July export estimates later in the day.
Dalian's most-active soyoil contract fell 0.61 per cent, while its palm oil contract lost 0.51 per cent. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 0.82 per cent.
Palm oil tracks price movements of rival edible oils, as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market.
At 0545 GMT, the benchmark Brent crude was down 0.33 per cent at US$73 per barrel. Weaker crude oil futures make palm a less attractive option for biodiesel feedstock.
The ringgit, palm's currency of trade, weakened 0.35 per cent against the dollar, making the commodity cheaper for buyers holding foreign currencies.
Malaysian palm oil exports to the United States during January-May rose 51.8 per cent from a year earlier to 93,000 metric tons, the Plantation and Commodities Ministry said.
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