Palm oil falls to one-week low on caution ahead of data release, weaker rivals

SINGAPORE: Malaysian palm oil futures fell to close at a one-week low on Thursday amid lower prices of rival edible softs and cautious trading ahead of the release of April’s palm oil data from key producer Malaysia on Friday.

The benchmark palm oil contract for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed down 39 ringgit, or 1.01%, at 3,830 ringgit ($808.27), the lowest close since May 2.

Losses in related vegetable oils futures and cautious trading ahead of data from Malaysia Palm Oil Board kept palm futures mostly stagnant, said Sathia Varqa, co-founder of Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics, adding that the focus will be on the extent of April’s production rise.

A Reuters poll forecast Malaysia’s April palm oil exports declined by 7.79% month-on-month to 1.22 million tons.

China’s edible oil imports in April fell 17.67% month-on-month and 25.5% year-on-year, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract fell 1.36%, while its palm oil contract lost 1.73%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade edged down 0.16%.

Palm oil snaps two-day winning streak amid lower soyoil, export woes

Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

Malaysia plans to introduce “orangutan diplomacy” in its relations with major palm oil-importing countries, offering the animals as trading gifts in an effort to allay concerns about the environmental effects of growing the commodity.

Oil prices rose on Thursday as falling U.S. crude inventories amid rising refinery intake and a rise in Chinese imports last month supported higher demand expectations for the world’s two largest crude consuming nations.