Malaysian palm oil futures fell over 2% at the close of trade on Tuesday, pressured by weaker export growth and losses in soyaoil on the Chicago Board of Trade. The benchmark palm oil contract for November delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was last down 2.4% at 2,181 ringgit ($520.53) per tonne on Tuesday evening, the third session of decline in five days and its biggest daily decline in four months. Palm earlier fell to an intraday low of 2,179 ringgit, its lowest level since August 21.
A Kuala Lumpur-based futures trader said the drop in US soyaoil prices and slowing export growth weighed on palm. "The spillover weakness from palm's spot month contract also weighed on prices," she added, referring to Bursa's palm oil contract for September delivery, which was last down 2.9%. Malaysian palm oil exports rose 15.6% for the full month of August, according to data from cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance released on Tuesday. The increase however is smaller the than rise in demand from August 1-25 which gained nearly 20% versus the corresponding period in July.
In other related oils, US soyaoil futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were last down 1.2%. US wheat futures fell nearly 0.5% on Tuesday, set to extend losses for a fourth straight session, as ample global supplies pushed prices towards a near four-month low. Soyabeans fell as the market remained focused on the impact of the protracted US-China trade war, while corn also slid.
Meanwhile, the September soyaoil contract on the Dalian exchange edged up 0.1% and the Dalian September palm oil contract rose 0.4%. Palm oil prices are affected by movements in related oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

Copyright Reuters, 2019

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