SINGAPORE: Malaysian crude palm oil futures slipped on Thursday as a delay in a second bailout package for Greece raised investors' concerns, although losses were limited by dry weather fears in soy-producing South America.
Prospects of lower supply in soybean due to dry weather in Brazil provided some support for palm oil that competes with soyoil for use in biofuels and food.
Slowing exports for Malaysian palm oil and uncertainty in Europe, a major palm oil consumer, has weighed on the futures market that has edged higher so far this year.
"The recent exports data showed that exports for the first 15 days are not that strong but I suspect that this could be due to the delay in the issuance of tax-free crude palm oil quota," said Ivy Ng, an analyst with Malaysia's CIMB Investment Bank.
"Exports should recover as we go into later part of the month, or if not in March," she added.
By the midday break, benchmark April palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange eased 0.6 percent to 3,178 ringgit ($1,041) per tonne. Prices hit a high of 3,213 ringgit on Wednesday, a level last seen on Jan. 12.
Traded volumes stood at 11,697 lots of 25 tonnes each, just slightly lower than the usual 12,500 lots.
Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said palm oil will retrace to 3,118 ringgit per tonne, as a rebound from the Feb. 2 low of 3,036 ringgit has completed.
In signs of slowing demand, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said Malaysian palm oil exports from Feb. 1 to 15 fell 14 percent to 509,107 tonnes from a month ago.
That was a higher quantum compared to the first ten days of February when exports fell by 4.3 percent comapred to the same period a month ago.
But crude palm oil demand picked up, which market players attributed to the tax-free export quotas of 3 million tonnes that were issued early this February after weeks of delay.
Brent crude prices slipped on Thursday on fears of a delay in a second bailout package for debt-ridden Greece, although worries of supply disruption from Iran and US data showing an unexpected drop in inventories limited the drop.
The Greek bailout delay also weighed on other vegetable oil markets.
The US soyoil contract for March delivery fell in Asian trade after rising in the previous session on stronger export demand in soybeans as China sealed record deals amid dry weather threatening south American soy crops.
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