KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell for a second consecutive session on Thursday as rival oils weakened, but a likely drop in December inventories helped limit losses.

The benchmark palm oil contract for March delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange dropped 78 ringgit, or 1.87%, to 4,091 ringgit ($932.95) a tonne.

Palm tracked weakness in Chicago soy oil futures, overnight crude oil prices, and sharply lower Dalian palm olein, said Anilkumar Bagani, research head of Mumbai-based vegetable oils broker Sunvin Group.

Malaysia’s exports during Jan. 1 to 5 fell 68.2% from the same period in December to 71,000 tonnes, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said.

Palm oil slides from near 5-week high

Underpinning prices, the nation’s palm oil inventories at end-December likely shrank 5.3% from the month before to 2.17 million tonnnes, its lowest in four months, a Reuters survey showed.

Production declined 3% to 1.63 million tonnes, while exports fell 1% to 1.5 million tonnes, according to the poll.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract fell 0.9%, while its palm oil contract sliped 1.4%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 1.2%.

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