KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures closed down on Friday, the sharpest drop in a week after tracking rival soyoil which fell on concerns of ample global soybean supplies.
The benchmark palm oil contract for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange finished 1.7 percent lower at 2,660 ringgit ($599.98) a tonne, the biggest decline since March 30 and third losing session out of four.
Palm oil fell ahead of Monday's official data on production, exports and stocks from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board.
But the price was 2.3 percent higher on the week, following two straight weekly losses.
Friday's traded volumes stood at 55,019 lots of 25 tonnes each.
"Palm is down tracking weakness in other vegetable oils," said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur. "The market could go back down to 2,660 ringgit levels for support."
Palm oil prices have slipped in recent weeks on expectations of rising output and tracking other edible oils lower.
Analysts polled by Reuters expected palm oil output in the world's No.2 producer Malaysia to show a 10.4 percent rise to 1.39 million tonnes in March, which would be the first month-on-month climb in about five months.
March inventory levels likely rose for the first time in three months to 1.46 million tonnes, according to the poll's median forecast. Exports were seen rising 7 percent to 1.18 million tonnes.
Palm oil is impacted by the price movements in related edible oils, including soyoil, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market. Soybean oil on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 0.7 percent.
In other related vegetable oils, the September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was down 1.6 percent, while the September contract for palm olein on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 1 percent.
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