Malaysian palm oil futures dirft lower

Malaysian crude palm oil futures fell 1 percent on Tuesday as expectations of a build-up in stocks due to weakening demand and an uptick in imports from Indonesia pulled down the market. Palm oil prices were also pressured by losses in Chicago Board of Trade soybean oil futures during electronic trading in Asian hours, traders said.
The benchmark September contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange ended down 24 ringgit, or 1 percent at 2,348 ringgit ($676) a tonne, after hitting an intraday low of 2,321 ringgit.
"The market is on the downside as the end-stock for June and later months will rise because of weak exports," said a dealer. "Also, refiners are bringing in more crude palm oil from Indonesia." Another trader said: "Soyoil is a contributing factor to the declining prices but it is the demand and supply fundamentals that are giving more pressure."
Other traded months fell between 10 ringgit and 48 ringgit in overall trade of 9,972 lots of 25 tonnes each. Palm oil is now more than 15 percent off a historic high of 2,764 ringgit reached earlier this month due to robust demand from top importers India and China and dwindling stocks at home.
September palm oil on Singapore's Joint Asian Derivatives Exchange slipped $8.00 at $679.00 a tonne in dull trade. Soyoil futures at the CBOT fell, with the July contract down 0.16 cent at 34.92 cents per lb by 1042 GMT. Soyoil prices often move in step with palm oil due to common use in products ranging from cosmetics and candies to biofuels.
Top palm oil consumer India is looking to boost oilseed production to 35 million tonnes by 2011 in a bid to become less reliant on expensive imports, a senior government official said on Tuesday. For further details.
Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for June 1-25 fell 10.6 percent to 821,500 tonnes from 918,738 tonnes shipped between May 1 and 25, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Monday. Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, said exports for the same period fell 12.3 percent to 835,758 tonnes.
In Malaysia's physical market, crude palm oil for June shipment in the southern region was quoted at 2,500/2,510 ringgit a tonne. Trades were done between 2,500 and 2,520 ringgit.