Malaysian palm oil down

Malaysian crude palm oil futures edged lower on Friday in light trade as prices of rival soyabean oil declined and the market awaited further news that Indonesia may cut export tax on palm oil products. Traders said fears over declining exports and rising supplies had weighed on palm oil prices over the past two days.
The benchmark September contract on the Bursar Malaysia Derivatives Exchange ended down 8 ringgit at 2,380 ringgit ($690) a tonne after touching an intra-day low of 2,360 ringgit. "The market is mainly affected by the fall in US soyabean oil," said one trader. "The news that Indonesia could cut palm oil export tax is of interest but the market will only react to this once the plan becomes a reality."
Indonesia is considering lowering the export tax on palm oil products if local cooking oil prices ease, Bayou Krisnamurthi, deputy to the co-ordinating economics minister, said on Friday.
Last week, Indonesia raised the export tax on crude palm oil to 6.5 percent from 1.5 percent and on palm oil products to 6.5 percent from 0.3 percent to stabilise cooking oil prices, which were up 30 percent this year on surging global prices.
Other traded months fell between 5 ringgit and 25 ringgit. Overall trade halved to 5,527 lots of 25 tonnes each from Thursday's level. "Right now, players are just by the sidelines, waiting to see how the export numbers fare," said another trader.
Cargo surveyors Interlake Testing Services and Society General de Surveillance will unveil June 1 to 25 export numbers on Monday. Palm oil is nearly 14 percent off an historic high of 2,764 ringgit reached this month due to robust demand from top importers India and China and dwindling stocks at home.
Soyaoil futures on the Chicago Board of Trade slid on Thursday due to weakness in the crude oil market. July soyaoil ended 0.27 cent per lb. weaker at 35.04 cents, with the back months down 0.20 to 0.30.
In electronic trading during Asian hours, the July contract fell another 0.04 cent to 35.00 cents a lb. Soyaoil competes with palm oil due to common use in products ranging from lipstick and bread to bifocals.
September palm oil on Singapore's Joint Asian Derivatives Exchange shed $0.25 at $690.00 a tonne with distant contracts easing further in dull trade. Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for June 1-20 fell 15 percent to 661,626 tonnes from 775,979 tonnes shipped between May 1 and 20, cargo surveyor Interlake Testing Services said on Wednesday.
Another surveyor, Society General de Surveillance said exports during the period fell 15.5 percent to 675,424 tonnes. In Malaysia's physical market, crude palm oil for June shipment in the southern region was quoted at 2,530/2,550 ringgit a tonne. Trades were done between 2,530 and 2,550.