KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures extended losses to a second straight session on Tuesday, pressured by weaker rival Dalian oils, though an increase in India’s palm oil imports limited the decline. The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 11 ringgit, or 0.24%, to 4,488 ringgit ($1,017.69) a metric ton at the close.
The market was down due to soybean oil’s overnight fall and Dalian’s weakness, influenced mainly by US and China tariffs, said David Ng, a proprietary trader at Kuala Lumpur-based trading firm Iceberg X Sdn Bhd.
Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract fell 1.92%, while its palm oil contract shed 2.42%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.73%.
Palm oil tracks price movements of rival edible oils, as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market. India’s palm oil imports in February rose 35.7% from January to 373,549 metric tons, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India said.
Oil prices pared earlier losses to rise up, helped by weakness in US dollar, although gains were capped as concerns mounted over a potential US recession and the impact of tariffs on global economic growth.
Weaker crude oil futures make palm a less attractive option for biodiesel feedstock. The ringgit, palm’s currency of trade, strengthened 0.25% against the dollar, making the commodity more expensive for buyers holding foreign currencies.
Cargo surveyors estimated that exports of Malaysian palm oil products during March 1-10 fell between 25.8% and 38.3%, compared with the same period a month earlier.
Indonesian prosecutors handed over more than 221,000 hectares (546,000 acres) of illegal palm oil plantations seized as part of an ongoing corruption probe to a new state-owned company that will manage them.
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