13.11.2018 (The Edge Markets MY) - KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 13): Malaysian palm oil futures fell over 1% on Tuesday evening to trade around three-year lows, tracking weakness in crude oil and on existing concerns over high palm stocks.

The benchmark palm oil contract for January delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 1.3% at RM2,007 (US$478.77) a tonne at the end of the trading day for a sixth consecutive day of losses.

It earlier fell to an intraday low of RM2,006, its lowest levels since Sept 2015.

Trading volumes stood at 38,577 lots of 25 tonnes each at the close of trade.

"Crude oil fell more this evening," said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader, in explaining the declines in palm prices.

Oil prices fell around 1% on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump put pressure on OPEC not to cut supply to prop up the market.

Palm oil prices are influenced by movements in crude oil, as the edible oil is used as feedstock to make biodiesel.

Another palm oil trader said the market was also down as overall stockpiles are still high, but added that an expected flat rate of production growth in November could support the market from sharp declines.  

Official data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board on Monday showed end-October stockpiles grew 7.6% to 2.72 million tonnes, while production rose 6% to 1.96 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, exports fell 3% to 1.57 million tonnes from September.

Shipments are also not expected to pick up in the coming months, say traders. Palm oil imports by India, the world's top consumer of edible oils, are unlikely to climb over November to January even as prices for the commodity plumb their lowest in three years, reined in by ample local supply of rival oilseeds and as a liquidity crunch hits would-be buyers.

In other related edible oils, the Chicago December soybean oil contract was down 0.3%, while the January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.1%.

The January palm oil contract also gained 0.1%.

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

Palm oil is expected to test a support at RM2,016 per tonne, a break below which could cause a loss to RM1,996, according to Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals Wang Tao.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1100 GMT

Contract	Month	Last	Change	Low	High	Volume
MY PALM OIL	NOV8	0	-40.00	0	0	0
MY PALM OIL	DEC8	1912	-40.00	1912	1955	1753
MY PALM OIL	JAN9	2007	-27.00	2006	2036	15929
CHINA PALM OLEIN	JAN9	4368	+6.00	4328	4394	222402
CHINA SOYOIL	JAN9	5436	+4.00	5418	5462	182908
CBOT SOY OIL	DEC8	27.64	-0.07	27.63	27.81	3612
INDIA PALM OIL	NOV8	535.50	-7.20	535.50	544	830
INDIA SOYOIL	NOV8	747.5	-1.00	747.5	752.5	5750
NYMEX CRUDE	DEC8	58.45	-1.48	58.24	59.35	151636

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 = RM4.1920)
(US$1 = 72.6550 Indian rupees)
(US$1 = 6.9570 Chinese yuan)