KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures posted a second weekly loss on Friday, underpinned by poor demand and weakness in Dalian vegetable oils.
The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 24 ringgit, or 0.62%, to 3,871 ringgit ($828.73) at closing.
The contract declined 0.49% this week. It recorded a 5.87% rise for November, reversing a two-month decline. Palm oil demand from biodiesel players continued to be virtually non-existent, said Paramalingam Supramaniam, director at Selangor-based brokerage Pelindung Bestari.
“Market players expressed uncertainty regarding when margins for biodiesel players might improve and when demand from this sector might return.”
Palm oil is used as feedstock to make biodiesel. Exports of Malaysian palm oil products in November were estimated to be up between 2% and 11% from the previous month, data from surveyors Intertek Testing Services and AmSpec Agri Malaysia showed on Thursday. In related oils, Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract fell 1.58%, while its palm oil contract was down 1.62%.
Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.02%. 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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