KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures dipped in early trade on Wednesday on figures showing a strong rise in regional production so far in March, partly reversing two sessions of gains.
The benchmark palm oil contract for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 0.5 percent to 2,423 ringgit ($617.64) a tonne at the midday break.
Trading volumes stood at 26,444 lots of 25 tonnes each at noon.
Output data released by the Southern Peninsular Palm Oil Millers Association (SPPOMA) before the midday break showed regional output for the March 1-20 period climbed 36.4 percent from a month earlier.
A futures trader based in Kuala Lumpur said prices had started soft, tracking a drop in soybean oil futures on Tuesday, and ahead of the data release.
"The market was quite cautious as most were watching out for the production numbers," the trader said.
National output data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Association is expected this week, traders said.
In other related oils, the Chicago Board of Trade's May soybean oil contract was little changed, while the May soybean oil on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.1 percent.
The Dalian May palm oil contract rose 0.5 percent.
Palm oil prices are affected by movements in rival edible oils as they compete in the global vegetable oils market.
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