24/08/2010 (The Economic Times), Mumbai - Indian soyoil futures fell over 1 percent on Tuesday afternoon tracking weakness in palm oil and as higher supplies from imports and domestic crushing surpassed festive demand, analysts said. Soybean and rapeseed were hammered by an expansion in acreage under summer-sown oilseeds and good rains in growing areas.

Malaysian crude palm oil futures fell 0.6 percent on Tuesday on technical selling and a slowdown in demand thanks to a surge in cash prices.

"Lots of imports have come. Oilseeds crushing has increased due to good margins and edible oil supplies are coming from there as well," said Alimuhammad Lakdawala, analyst at Anand Rathi Commodities Ltd. India's July vegetable oil imports rose by a third from a year earlier, increasing for the first time since December, on purchases to build reserves ahead of festival demand.

At 2:11 p.m., September soyoil on India's National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) was down 1.46 percent at 486.7 rupees per 10 kg. Demand for edible oils usually goes up in India during Aug-Oct due to the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and Hindu festivals like Ganesh puja and Diwali.

CBOT soybean was trading 0.52 percent lower. September soybean on NCDEX fell 1.31 percent to 2,066.5 rupees per 100 kg, while rapeseed for September delivery dropped 1.9 percent to 546.35 rupees per 20 kg. As on Aug. 19, area under oilseeds in the world's biggest edible oil importer stood at 16.14 million hectares, against 15.32 million hectares a year ago, farm ministry data showed on Friday.