The Edge Markets (11/12/2017) - KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 11): Malaysian palm oil futures slid to fresh lows on Monday evening, hitting their weakest in five and a half months, as traders were cautious ahead of official data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) scheduled for release on Tuesday.

Palm oil stockpiles in Malaysia, the world's second-largest producer after Indonesia, are seen rising in November as export volumes fall faster than output, weighing on prices.   

A Reuters poll forecast that inventories at the end of November will rise 11.4% to 2.44 million tonnes on-month, its highest levels in about two years, while output is pegged to drop 3% to 1.95 million tonnes.

Exports are forecast to fall 6% from October to 1.45 million tonnes in November.

The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 0.8% to 2,459 ringgit (US$603.44) a tonne at the close of trade, charting a sixth consecutive day of declines.

It earlier fell to 2,455 ringgit, its lowest since June 30.

Trading volumes stood at 45,026 lots of 25 tonnes each at the end of the trading day.

"Palm oil futures are trading cautiously ahead of November supply and demand data from MPOB," said a futures trader from Malaysia, adding that expectations of a decline in exports for the first 10 days of December contributed to falling prices.

Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services reported a 16.6% decline in Malaysian palm oil shipments for Dec 1-10 against the corresponding period the previous month.

Palm oil may fall to 2,462 ringgit per tonne, a break below which could cause a loss to 2,426 ringgit, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.

In other related oils, the January soybean oil contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 0.3%, while the January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was slightly down 0.1%.

The Dalian January palm olein contract also dipped 0.2%.

Palm oil prices are affected by other edible oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1041 GMT

Contract                       Month     Last     Change    Low    High   Volume

 MY PALM OIL               DEC7     2350     -29.00     2350    2375       84

 MY PALM OIL               JAN8     2417     -28.00     2412    2455     2379

 MY PALM OIL               FEB8     2457    -20.00      2455    2495    17446

 CHINA PALM OLEIN    MAY8    5324      -4.00      5308    5358   294486

 CHINA SOYOIL            MAY8    5890     +8.00     5834    5908   336974

 CBOT SOY OIL            JAN8      33.51    -0.16     33.42    33.7     8497

 INDIA PALM OIL          DEC7     560.00   -1.10    558.00   563.5     667

 INDIA SOYOIL             DEC7     715.5    +3.10    713.3    717     3490

 NYMEX CRUDE          JAN8     57.25     -0.11    56.91    57.37   101208

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

(US$1 = 4.0750 ringgit)

(US$1 = 64.3825 Indian rupees)

(US$1 = 6.6168 Chinese yuan)