VEGOILS-Palm Oil Falls To 1-Mth Low on U.S., Europe Worries
09/11/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures fell to their lowest in more than a month on Thursday, tracking losses in global markets caused by renewed worries that economic woes in the United States and Europe could hurt commodity demand.
Crude oil and equities slumped as euphoria faded after President Barack Obama's re-election on Wednesday, with the world's biggest economy now facing a so-called fiscal cliff of $600 billion in automatic tax increases and spending cuts.
Sentiment was also dented by a gloomy outlook for Europe after the European Commission said the euro zone economy would barely grow next year.
"There is a lot of uncertainty after the U.S. election, you have all these problems in Europe, and then there's also the fiscal cliff," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia.
"Local sentiment for palm is also bearish, because of high stocks. I don't think palm has any support until you can see very strong demand followed by a drawdown in stocks, then the market will stabilise."
The benchmark January contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed 2.9 percent down at 2,328 ringgit ($760) per tonne, the lowest since Oct. 4.
Total traded volumes stood at 37,323 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots.
Palm oil prices must stay at around 2,200 ringgit a tonne for two months in order to stimulate demand for the edible oil and reduce high stock levels, leading industry analyst Dorab Mistry said at a conference in China on Thursday.
Malaysian palm oil futures have lost almost 25 percent so far this year, weighed by record high stocks and global economic uncertainty.
Stock levels in Malaysia, the world's No.2 palm oil producer, may reach a new record at 2.67 million tonnes in October, a Reuters survey showed on Tuesday.
Traders will be watching Malaysian exports data for Nov. 1-10 from cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services, due to be released on Saturday, and October stocks data from industry regulator, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, on Monday.
In related markets, Brent crude rose above $107 a barrel in Asia on Thursday as a slump of almost 4 percent in the previous session, its biggest fall in about a year, lured in some buyers, although worries over a possible U.S. fiscal crisis and Europe's woes kept a lid on gains.
In other vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for December delivery inched up 0.1 percent in early Asian trade. The most active May 2013 soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange ended flat.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1007 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL NOV2 2240 -50.00 2240 2284 151
MY PALM OIL DEC2 2297 -33.00 2280 2337 2174
MY PALM OIL JAN3 2328 -69.00 2328 2399 17791
CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY3 6788 -44.00 6780 6868 437004
CHINA SOYOIL MAY3 8750 +0.00 8690 8796 652164
CBOT SOY OIL DEC2 48.71 +0.09 48.45 48.97 8569
NYMEX CRUDE DEC2 84.97 +0.54 84.51 85.39 22723
Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
($1=3.06 ringgit)