Palm oil eases on rising stocks but logs 3pc weekly gain

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures eased on Friday after surveys pegged May inventories to rise to an eight-month high, but the market notched its second straight weekly gain due to global edible oil supply woes.

The benchmark palm oil contract for August delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed down 27 ringgit, or 0.65%, at 4,131 ringgit ($1,001.21) a tonne, after declining as much as 2.3% in the session.

Palm rose 3% for the week, underpinned by concerns over global edible oil supply due to hot weather in parts of the US Midwest.

"Futures traded lower from active profit-taking ahead of the long weekend and on cooldown in soybean oil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade," said Sathia Varqa, co-founder of Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics.

Prices were also weighed down by surveys showing a unanimous rise in May end-month stocks, he added.

Malaysian markets are closed on Monday for a holiday.

Malaysia's palm oil stockpiles at the end of May likely jumped 6.3% on-month to an eight-month high, at 1.64 million tonnes, as production rose amid sluggish exports, a Reuters survey showed.

Production in the world's second-largest producer is expected to rise 3.4% to 1.58 million tonnes, while exports are seen up 0.9% at 1.35 million tonnes.

Indonesian authorities have yet to decide on whether to cut their crude palm oil export levy, three officials told Reuters, as the levies remained at their highest for five months in a row, hurting demand.

Dalian's most-active soyoil contract fell 1%, while its palm oil contract declined 1.1%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 1.5%.

Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.