KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell more than 3% on Thursday, and logged their first monthly decline this year, after India extended a stock limit on edible oils and as crude prices plunged. The benchmark palm oil contract for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed down 214 ringgit, or 3.61%, at 5,716 ringgit ($1,359.98) a tonne.

For the month, the contract has fallen 9.3%, its biggest decline since April 2020. Oil futures fell more than $5 on reports that the Biden administration is weighing releasing some one million barrels of oil per day from strategic reserves for several months in a bid to calm soaring crude prices.

Weaker crude oil futures make palm a less attractive option for biodiesel feedstock. Top vegetable oil buyer India has extended a stock limit on oilseeds and edible oils by six months to Dec. 31, 2022, in an attempt to check hoarding and arrest rising prices.

Meanwhile, exports of Malaysian palm oil products for March rose between 6.7% and 7.4% from February as shipments to China and India picked up, cargo surveyors said. Russia will ban exports of sunflower seeds starting on Friday and impose an export quota of 1.5 million tonnes of sunflower oil between April 15 and Aug. 31, the Agriculture Ministry said, further squeezing an already tight edible oils market.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract gained 1.6%, and its palm oil contract rose 0.7%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 1.4%. Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.