Palm ends with more than 4% weekly loss

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.

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.

Tags: Malaysia, palm oil, futures, benchmark contract, soyoil