Palm tumbles more than 1% as Indonesia drops B50 plans, rival oils weaken

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell more than 1% lower on Thursday for a third straight session, weighed down by weaker rival edible oils, crude oil prices, and Indonesia’s plan to scrap its B50 biodiesel plans.

The benchmark palm oil contract for March delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 60 ringgit, or 1.49%, to 3,980 ringgit ($982.23) a metric ton at the close.

Crude palm oil futures followed sharply lower Chinese vegetable oil and Chicago soyoil futures during Asian hours along with weakness in crude oil, said Anilkumar Bagani, head of commodity research at Sunvin Group, a Mumbai-based brokerage.

Indonesia’s decision to scrap its B50 biodiesel plans has also led to an easing of palm oil price premium, Bagani said.

Indonesia scrapped its plans for a mandatory B50 grade of palm oil-based diesel this year and will stick with B40 owing to technical and funding concerns, government officials said, easing concerns over strains on global palm oil supplies.

“The market is now waiting for first-half January palm oil production and export performance data,” Bagani said.

Cargo surveyors estimated that exports of Malaysian palm oil products for January 1-15 rose between 17.5% and 18.6% from a month earlier.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract fell 0.68%, while its palm oil contract shed 2.03%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 0.98%.

Palm oil tracks price movements of rival edible oils, as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market.

Oil prices tumbled from multi-month highs, while gold fell back from a record peak after U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to back away from threats of potential U.S. military action against Iran, which doused investor demand for safe-haven assets.

Weaker crude oil futures make palm a less attractive option for biodiesel feedstock.