Palm oil falls on weak exports, dissipating output concerns

Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Monday, snapping three session of gains as concerns around Indonesian output eased and weak export data weighed down the contract.

The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed down 5 ringgit, or 0.51%, at 4,093 ringgit ($991.76) a metric ton.

The contract pared earlier gains after Indonesia’s largest palm oil association GAPKI said it saw no major impact yet on palm oil production due to devastating floods on the island of Sumatra, a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said.

Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand faced large-scale devastation

after a rare tropical storm formed in the Malacca Strait, fuelling heavy rains and wind last week. Rescue and relief officials in Southeast Asian countries were still trying to get access to many flood-hit areas on Sunday, even as flood waters receded and tens of thousands of people were evacuated across the three countries.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for November fell 19.7% from the previous month, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said, which also pressured prices.

Meanwhile, Indonesia exported 19.49 million metric tons of crude and refined palm oil in the January to October period, up 7.83% by volume from the same period last year, the statistics bureau said on Monday.

The contract gained 1.1% last week, but declined 2.78% in November, its third consecutive monthly drop.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract gained 0.61%, while its palm oil contract increased 0.75%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 0.31%.

Palm oil tracks price movements of rival edible oils, as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market. Indonesia has set its crude palm oil reference price at $926.14 per ton for December, down from November’s $963.75 per ton, a Trade Ministry regulation showed.

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