The Edge Markets (29/11/2017) - KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 29): Malaysian palm oil futures fell to a four-month low on Wednesday evening, a third consecutive session of losses as the ringgit strengthened against the dollar, making the tropical oil more expensive for holders of foreign currencies.

The market also tracked weaker related oils and was dented by expectations of falling export demand.

The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 0.9% to RM2,563 (US$628.19) a tonne at the close of trade. It earlier fell to an intraday low of RM2,560, its weakest level since July 24.

Traded volumes stood at 31,906 lots of 25 tonnes each at the end of the trading day.

"Palm fell on the ringgit," said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur, referring to palm's traded currency which was up 0.5% at 4.0800 per dollar. 

Palm was also weighed down by related edible oils, such as soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade and China's Dalian Commodity Exchange, said a trader, along with expectations of weaker demand indicated by data from cargo surveyors.

"The market is lacking any positive catalysts," he said, adding that the market was also awaiting production data at the end of November.

"Any sign of positive production could put pressure on prices."

Malaysian palm oil output rose 12.9% month-on-month to 2 million tonnes at the end of October. Further gains in production could add to stockpiles and weigh on prices.

Palm oil exports from Malaysia fell 8.4-8.6% during Nov. 1-25 compared with the corresponding period last month, according to cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance.

Data for the full month of November is scheduled for release after 0300 GMT on Thursday.

In other related edible oils, the December soybean oil contract on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 0.8%, while the January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was down 1%.

Dalian's January palm olein contract dropped 0.1%.

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

Palm oil may fall into a range of RM2,519-2,555 per tonne, said Reuters' market analyst for commodities and energy technicals, Wang Tao.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1105 GMT

Contract                        Month      Last      Change       Low      High      Volume__

MY PALM OIL                DEC7       2470      -2.00        2450      2470       175

MY PALM OIL                JAN8        2526      -27.00      2524      2552       1534

MY PALM OIL                FEB8        2563      -24.00      2560      2588       16482

CHINA PALM OLEIN     MAY8       5412      -10.00       384       5446        240964

CHINA SOYOIL             JAN8        5824      -58.00      5816      5884        196598

CBOT SOY OIL             JAN8       33.88      -0.26      33.84       34.07       15248

INDIA PALM OIL           NOV7       590.50     -1.10     589.80     591.7        127

INDIA SOYOIL             DEC7        729.6       -3.20      728.7      733.7       10680

NYMEX CRUDE           JAN8         57.49       -0.50      57.46     57.82       84768

Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne

CBOT soy oil in US 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 US dollars per barrel

(US$1 = RM4.0800)

(US$1 = 64.3500 Indian rupees)

(US$1 = 6.5982 Chinese yuan)