Palm falls from one-week top as exports wane

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell from a one-week high during the second half of trade on Wednesday, weighed by cargo surveyor data showing weaker Malaysian exports during the first ten days of September.

The benchmark palm oil contract for November delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was last down 0.7% at 2,206 ringgit per tonne at the close of trade around 1030 GMT, snapping two earlier sessions of gains.

Earlier in the day, the market rose as much as 0.6% to 2,236 ringgit, its strongest level since Sept. 3.

"The market was reacting towards the weaker export numbers," said a Kuala Lumpur based futures trader, referring to cargo surveyor data showing Malaysian palm oil exports.

Societe Generale de Surveillance reported on Wednesday that Malaysian palm oil shipments fell 29% during Sept. 1-10 versus the corresponding period in August.

In terms of palm oil's demand and supply in Malaysia, another trader had earlier said that inventories are expected to rebuild as production increases in line with seasonal trend, while exports would see a slowdown.

Palm oil inventories in Malaysia extended falls to a 13-month low at the end of August as strong export gains outpaced production increases, official data showed on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, production rose 4.6% from the previous month to 1.82 million tonnes in August, while exports jumped by 16.4% last month to 1.73 million tonnes.

India, the world's largest edible oils importer, recently hiked an import tax on Malaysian refined palm oil for six months to limit imports and boost local refining, raising expectations that its demand for Malaysian refined palm oil would fall from October onwards.

In other related oils, US soyoil futures on the CBOT rose 0.3% on Tuesday, but was last trading flat on Wednesday.

The January soyoil contract on the Dalian exchange rose 0.1% and the Dalian January palm oil contract edged up 0.2%.

Palm oil prices are affected by movements in related oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.