02.07.2018 (The Edge Markets MY) - KUALA LUMPUR (July 2): Malaysian palm oil futures marginally declined in early trade on Monday, tracking weaker crude oil prices and were set for a second straight session of losses.

Palm oil is impacted by the movements of crude oil, as it is used to produce the bio components of biodiesel. Oil prices fell over 1% on Monday, after the White House said the leader of Saudi Arabia promised President Donald Trump to raise oil production if needed.

The benchmark palm oil contract for September delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 0.1% at 2,324 ringgit (US$575.53) a tonne at midday break.

Trading volumes stood at 8,624 lots of 25 tonnes each at noon.

While palm is down tracking crude oil movements, uncertainty remains over its longer-term outlook, said a Kuala Lumpur based-futures trader.

"U.S-China trade frictions has caused some pressure on palm.

Exports are also poor," she said, adding that a weaker ringgit however, has been a supportive factor.

Palm was hovering near a two-year low over the last two weeks, but added 1.8% in the last week.

Malaysian exports of the edible oil fell 10.3% on-month in June, according to independent inspection company AmSpec Agri Malaysia on Saturday.

A weaker ringgit supports palm, as it makes the edible oil cheaper for holders of foreign currencies.

The ringgit, palm's traded currency, is trading at its weakest level since the start of the year. The unit was flat at 4.0380 against the dollar at noon.

Palm oil may retrace to a support at 2,290 ringgit per tonne, said Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals Wang Tao.

In other related oils, the Chicago December soybean oil contract fell 0.2%, while September soybean oil on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange was down 0.1%.

Meanwhile, the Dalian September palm oil contract declined 0.1%.

Palm oil prices track the performance of other edible oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0457 GMT

Contract	Month	Last	Change	Low	High	Volume
MY PALM OIL	JUL8	2285	-13.00	2285	2290	11
MY PALM OIL	AUG8	2322	-4.00	2317	2327	186
MY PALM OIL	SEP8	2324	-2.00	2315	2329	4562
CHINA PALM OLEIN	SEP8	4850	-6.00	4828	4892	221870
CHINA SOYOIL	SEP8	5572	-8.00	5554	5622	212976
CBOT SOY OIL	DEC8	29.68	-0.10	29.6	29.75	2008
INDIA PALM OIL	JUL8	634.60	-0.50	633.40	634.6	221
INDIA SOYOIL	JUL8	0	+0.00	750.3	752	1130
NYMEX CRUDE	AUG8	73.28	-0.87	72.51	73.94	69252

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 = 4.0380 ringgit)
(US$1 = 68.4450 Indian rupees)
(US$1 = 6.6340 Chinese yuan)