Palm falls over 1 pct on weaker than forecast stocks decline

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures slipped to a one-week low on Tuesday evening in a second straight losing session as they lost ground on bearish industry regulator data released at the market's midday break.

Palm also fell in the first half of trade, tracking declines in related edible oils on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange.

The benchmark palm oil contract for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 1.3 percent at 2,433 ringgit ($629.17) a tonne at the close of trade. It earlier fell to 2,420 ringgit, the lowest since April 4.

Trading volumes stood at 43,392 lots of 25 tonnes each on Tuesday evening.

Palm oil futures traders said the market declined further in the second half of trade on bearish data released by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board.

"Production is a concern," said one Kuala Lumpur-based futures trader, while another trader in Singapore added that end-stocks did not decline as much as the market had expected.

Palm oil production rose 17.2 percent to 1.57 million tonnes in March from the previous month, while exports climbed 19.2 percent to 1.57 million tonnes, data released by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board at the midday break showed.

While stockpiles fell 6.2 percent to 2.32 million tonnes, the decline was smaller than market expectations. A Reuters poll had forecast March end-stocks in Malaysia to decline 8.6 percent from February to 2.27 million tonnes.

In related oils, the Chicago Board of Trade's May soybean oil contract declined 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the May soybean oil on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 1.5 percent, while the Dalian May palm oil contract was down 1.6 percent.

Palm oil prices are impacted by movements in rival edible oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.