The Star Online (15/11/2017) - KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures hit their lowest in nearly four weeks on Tuesday evening, weighed down by overnight losses in the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soyoil and weakness in related oils on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange.

The benchmark palm oil contract for January delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down  1.6 percent at 2,717 ringgit ($648.06) a tonne at the close of trade, its sharpest daily decline in nearly two months and a fourth straight session of losses.

Earlier in the session, it fell as much as 1.7 percent to 2,715 ringgit, its lowest since Oct. 19.

Traded volumes stood at 43,804 lots of 25 tonnes each at the end of the trading day.

Palm oil is impacted by movements in other edible oils as they compete for a share of the global vegetable oils market.

The December soybean oil contract on CBOT was down 0.2 percent after posting its biggest single-day drop in nearly two months in the previous session.

The January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange declined 0.9 percent, while the January palm olein contract fell 1.4 percent.

A likely slowdown in exports in the first half of November could dampen the market further, said a futures trader in Kuala Lumpur.

Appetite for palm oil usually slows towards the end of the year in markets with winter seasons such as China and Europe, as the tropical oil solidifies in cold temperatures.

Cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance are scheduled to release Nov. 1-15 exports data after 0300 GMT on Wednesday.
- Reuters