KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell to a three-week closing low on Friday, its third weekly drop in four, as sharp losses in rival oils and estimates of higher October-end stocks pressured the market.
The benchmark palm oil contract for January delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed down 191 ringgit, or 3.77%, at 4,880 ringgit ($1,173.64) a tonne, its lowest closing since Oct. 14.
Palm logged a 2.9% weekly decline.
Paramalingam Supramaniam, the director of Selangor-based brokerage Pelindung Bestari, said palm prices followed the sell-off in Chicago and Dalian.
Palm jumps tracking Dalian rivals higher despite weak fundamentals
Alerts of heavy rains and flooding in parts of Indonesia's East Java and Kalimantan, and heavy rainfall in Peninsular Malaysia as the monsoon season commences are stoking worries about November production figures, he said.
Malaysia's output in October is pegged to decline 0.98% to a three-month low of 1.69 million tonnes, according to a Reuters survey.
End-October palm oil stockpile in the world's second-largest producer is pegged to rise 3.4% to 1.81 million tonnes, while exports likely slumped 11.7% to 1.41 million tonnes, the survey showed.
The Malaysian Palm Oil Board is set to release October supply and demand data on Nov. 10.
Dalian's most-active soyoil contract fell 2.7%, while its palm oil contract slipped 2.6%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 0.4%, after declining 2% in the previous session.
Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.
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