KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures slumped 4% on Thursday in a holiday-shortened week, with traders booking profits following last week's sharp gains while slower April exports also weighed.

Further pressuring prices, the ringgit, palm's currency of trade, rose 0.41% against the dollar after the U.S Federal Reserve raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by a widely expected half-a-percentage point.

A stronger ringgit makes palm oil more expensive for holders of foreign currencies.

Indonesia’s palm oil export ban does not threaten EU supply

The benchmark palm oil contract for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 288 ringgit, or 4.05%, to 6,816 ringgit ($1,572.14) a tonne by the midday break.

Palm fell on profit-taking, and investors factored in price movements in soybean oil after an extended break, said Sathia Varqa, co-founder of Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics.

"Weaker April export and expectations of higher output pushing stocks higher will also weigh on the futures contract," he added. Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for April fell between 13.9% and 16% from March, cargo surveyors said on Saturday.

The contract soared 11.8% last week after top producer Indonesia imposed a temporary export ban on crude and refined palm oil, deepening concerns about global edible oil supply already hit by the war in Ukraine.

Indonesia's export ban does not raise concern for the supply of the European Union market as the bloc has reserves for several weeks, EU vegetable oil group FEDIOL said on Tuesday.

Dalian's most-active soyoil contract fell 2.1%, while its palm oil contract eased 2.7%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade rose 0.8%.

Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.