KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures slumped more than 5% on Friday and marked their steepest weekly fall in seven as surveys pointed to a rise in end-April inventories.
The benchmark palm oil contract for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 346 ringgit, or 5.12%, to 6,406 ringgit ($1,466.58) a tonne, down for a second consecutive session.
Palm plunged 9.8% for the holiday-shortened week, the most since March 18.
Malaysia’s palm oil inventories at end-April likely rose to their highest since January, up 5.2% from the previous month to 1.55 million tonnes, according to a Reuters poll.
Production is expected to rise 4.9% to a five-month high of 1.48 million tonnes, while exports likely fell 5.6% to 1.2 million tonnes, the survey showed.
The Malaysian Palm Oil Board is scheduled to release official data on May 10.
Shipments from Malaysia are expected to skyrocket due to Indonesia’s ban on palm oil exports, with cargo surveyor ITS indicating a 67% monthly surge in exports during May 1-5, said Anilkumar Bagani, research head of Mumbai-based vegetable oils broker Sunvin Group.
Traders are also factoring in the possibility of Indonesia lifting its export ban in the coming weeks, which added to the pressure on prices, Bagani added.
Malaysia, the world’s second largest palm oil producer, said it plans to leverage the global edible oil shortage and “political tension in Europe” to regain market share after buyers shunned the commodity over environmental concerns.
Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract fell 1.6%, while its palm oil contract dropped 3.3%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 1.9%.
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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