Malaysian palm oil futures closed 1 percent lower, a fifth consecutive day of losses, after Malaysia said it would resume an export tax and on expectations of slowing demand growth, traders said on Friday. The benchmark palm oil contract for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 1 percent at 2,399 ringgit ($618.54) a tonne at the close of trade. It earlier fell to 2,398 ringgit, its weakest levels since April 4.
Palm is down 4.2 percent for the week, its sharpest weekly decline in four months.
Trading volumes stood at 42,343 lots of 25 tonnes each at the close on Friday.
"Palm fell on the tax announcement and on expectations of reducing export growth," a Kuala Lumpur based trader said. Malaysia, the world's second largest palm producer and exporter, said it would resume export duties on crude palm oil after four months of tax exemptions. Malaysia said on Friday it would set its crude palm oil export tax at 5 percent for May, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, citing the national customs department.
A forecast slowdown in export growth is also weighing on the market, said another trader, referring to shipment data from cargo surveyors scheduled for release on Monday.
Palm oil shipments last rose 25-32 percent during the April 1-10 period. In other related oils, the Chicago Board of Trade's May soyabean oil contract gained 0.3 percent, after dropping as much as 1 percent earlier this week.
The May soyabean oil on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange slipped as much as 0.4 percent, while the Dalian May palm oil contract edged down 0.04 percent.
Palm oil prices are affected by movements in rival edible oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.
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