Malaysian palm oil benchmark futures fell on Thursday as a weak demand outlook continued to put pressure on prices of the vegetable oil. The palm oil contract for August delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 0.45 percent to 2,429 ringgit ($610.61) a tonne by the close.
Traded volume stood at 32,308 lots of 25 tonnes each.
The contract erased some of its 0.91 percent gain from a day earlier after it rebounded from a three-week low.
"Weakness in demand is putting a lid on the prices," a Kuala Lumpur-based palm trader said.
Malaysia's palm oil exports in May were lower at around 1.2 million tonnes, down 8.8 percent from April's shipments, independent inspection company AmSpec Agri Malaysia said on Thursday.
Meanwhile, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) said the country's May palm oil exports fell 9.9 percent.
Sime Darby Plantation Bhd, the world's largest palm oil planter by land holdings, estimated crude palm oil prices to be within a range of 2,400 to 2,500 ringgit per tonne next month.
In Indonesia, the world's top palm oil exporter, shipments of palm and palm kernel oils fell 13.6 percent in April, data from the Indonesia Palm Oil Association showed.
In related vegetable oils, the Chicago July soyabean oil contract traded 0.2 percent higher, while the September soyabean oil on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.3 percent.
Palm oil is affected by movements in rival edible oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.
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