Malaysian palm oil down

Malaysian crude palm oil futures edged lower in thin trade on Monday, pressured by a decline in prices of rival soyabean oil and faltering export demand. The benchmark September contract on the Bursar Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled down 8 ringgit, or 0.3 percent, at 2,372 ringgit ($685) a tonne after touching an intra-day low of 2,350 ringgit.
Other traded months fell between 7 and 27 ringgit while the August contract was marginally up. Overall trade fell to 8,040 lots of 25 tonnes each, from 12,000 lots traded by the end of a routine day.
"The market is clearly watching the losses made in soyaoil futures at the Chicago Board of Trade," said a dealer. "And from the way the first 25 days of exports have slowed down, stocks are definitely going to increase for this month."
Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for June 1-25 fell 10.6 percent to 821,500 tonnes from 918,738 tonnes shipped between May 1 and 25, cargo surveyor Intake Testing Services said on Monday.
Another cargo surveyor, Society General de Surveillance, said exports for the same period fell 12.3 percent to 835,758 tonnes. "Players are now waiting by the sidelines for the export data for the whole month, which will definitely fall further," said another dealer.
Malaysia may delay a plan to require all domestic diesel fuel to contain a minimum 5 percent palm oil-based bifocal beyond next year as feedstock costs surge, the country's commodities minister said on Monday.
Soyaoil futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell on Friday due to better crop weather in the US Midwest, with July down 0.31 cent at 34.73 cents per lb. In electronic trading during Asian hours, the July contract shed another 0.08 cent to 34.65 cents a lb. Soyaoil price often move in step with palm oil due to common use in products ranging from cosmetics and candies to bifocals.
September palm oil on Singapore's Joint Asian Derivatives Exchange slipped $2.00 at $688.00 a tonne in dull trade but October and January 2008 contracts climbed higher. In Malaysia's physical market, crude palm oil for June shipment in the southern region was quoted at 2,520/2,525 ringgit a tonne. Trades were done between 2,510 and 2,520 ringgit.