The Star Online (17/11/2018) - BANGKOK: Malaysian palm oil futures fell about 1 percent on Friday, heading for an eighth session of declines in nine, due to rising inventories.

The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 0.93 percent at 2,030 ringgit ($484.37)per tonne at the midday break.

The January contract had hit its lowest since August 2015 at 1,965 ringgit on Wednesday.

Trading volumes stood at 21,566 lots of 25 tonnes each at Friday noon.

"The market is factoring in weakness because of higher inventory and production," said David Ng, a palm trader at Philip Futures in Kuala Lumpur.

Stockpiles at the end of October increased 7.6 percent from the previous month to 2.72 million tonnes, while production rose 6 percent to 1.96 million tonnes, official data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board showed on Monday.

Palm oil prices are unlikely to recover soon, said traders, adding that inventories in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia were expected to rise further with demand unlikely to jump from key buyers as palm oil solidifies in winter months.

In other related edible oils, the Chicago December soybean oil contract was down 0.03 percent, while the January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.82 percent.

Meanwhile, the January palm oil contract fell 0.14 percent. Palm oil prices track the performances of other edible oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market. - Reuters