Palm oil books a second straight weekly gain

JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures reversed gains and closed lower on Friday, although they stillbooked their second straight weekly gain, up 1.09% for the week.

The benchmark palm oil contract for August delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost 2 ringgit, or 0.04%, to 4,535 ringgit ($1,144.34) a metric ton at the close.

The futures will be closed on June 1 and June 2. Trading will resume on Wednesday, June 3.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract rose 0.75%, while its palm oil contract added 0.37%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.1%.

Palm oil tracks the price movements of rival edible oils, as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market.

Indonesia set its crude palm oil reference price for June at $1,029.51 per metric ton, a Trade Ministry decree showed on Friday, down from $1,049.58 per ton in May.

The Indonesian government met with palm oil farmer groups on Friday to address concerns about a steep decline in the prices of fresh fruit bunches, which farmers say was caused by uncertainties about a new plan to funnel all palm oil exports through a state agency.

European Union soybean imports for the 2025/26 season that began in July had reached 11.95 million tons by May 24, down 8% from the same period a year earlier, while palm oil imports were down 4% at 2.55 million tons, European Commission data showed.