MARKET DEVELOPMENT
VEGOILS-Palm Hits New 3-month Lows
VEGOILS-Palm Hits New 3-month Lows
* Prices hit 2,108 in afternoon session
* MPOB data due early August expected to show excess stocks
* PM Najib graft case unlikely to affect palm market -trader
(Recasts, updates throughout)
30/07/2015 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures hit fresh 3-month lows on Wednesday, reversing a brief respite in a sixth-straight day of declines during morning trading, as concerns over export demand outlook for the edible oil triggered prices to fall further.
By Wednesday's close, benchmark palm oil for October on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had slipped 0.89 percent to 2,112 ringgit ($554.40) a tonne. Earlier, the contract hit 2,108 ringgit, its lowest since April 30.
"This is a continuation of the prevailing market weaknes," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur.
"After the lunch break when the Dalian RBD palm oil didn't move much, we took the opportunity to adjust prices and continue with the bearish movement," the trader said referring to palm oil traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange.
Total traded volume on Wednesday stood at 56,574 lots of 25 tonnes each, well above the roughly 35,000 lots usually traded daily.
Recent political drama involving allegations of graft embroiling Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was not seen affecting the market, the trader said.
However, turmoil in Chinese stock markets would impact demand for palm oil, a second trader said, referring to one of the world's top importers of the edible oil.
"There are people who are also involved in the palm oil trade whose money is being eroded there," the trader said.
With declining exports from Malaysia in July expected to outweigh declines in production over the Muslim holiday period, Malaysian Palm Oil Board closing stocks and production data due out on August 10 could show excess stocks, the trader said.
"The market is depressed here trying to get a foothold for new demand."
In competing markets, oil prices fell in Asian trade on Wednesday as concerns over global oversupply outweighed theimpact of a likely larger than expected draw in U.S. crude stocks and a weakening dollar.
The U.S. soyoil contract for August slipped 0.91 percent in afternoon Asian trading.
Meanwhile, the most active January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange edged up 0.77 percent snapping a four-day selloff, and Dalian RBD palm oil for September delivery gained 0.89 percent.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1037 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL AUG5 2120 -19.00 2107 2146 434
MY PALM OIL SEP5 2115 -20.00 2111 2152 4590
MY PALM OIL OCT5 2112 -20.00 2108 2150 24661
CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN6 4774 +38.00 4752 4814 516132
CHINA SOYOIL JAN6 5502 +42.00 5470 5542 516644
CBOT SOY OIL DEC5 30.83 -5.00 30.73 31.12 4816
INDIA PALM OIL JUL5 419.70 -5.00 419.20 424.50 492
INDIA SOYOIL AUG5 567.60 -1.35 567.50 569.50 31360
NYMEX CRUDE SEP5 47.74 -0.24 47.39 47.98 25326
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
India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
($1 = 3.8095 ringgit)
($1 = 63.8450 Indian rupees)
($1 = 6.2089 Chinese yuan renminbi)