Malaysian palm oil futures slipped on Monday as a stronger ringgit and expectations for higher production offset data showing an increase in export shipments. Shipments of Malaysian palm oil products for July 1-15 rose about 18 percent from a month earlier, data released by cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance showed.
The benchmark palm oil contract for October delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 0.6 percent at 2,537 ringgit ($591.93) at the close of trade, reversing earlier gains. Traded volumes stood at 36,750 lots of 25 tonnes each on Monday evening.
The market fell back due to expectations for a rise in production, said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur. "Most likely the whole month's production will be up," he said. Another trader had earlier said the strength of the ringgit, the currency of trade for the vegetable oil, could limit palm's upside.
A stronger ringgit usually makes the tropical oil more expensive for buyers holding foreign currencies. The ringgit was last up 0.12 percent at 4.2860 per dollar, after earlier reaching a one-month high of 4.2800. The December soyabean oil contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 0.03 percent, while the September soyabean oil on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was up 0.4 percent. In other related oils, the September palm olein contract gained 0.5 percent.
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