The Edge Markets (03/12/2018) - KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 3): Malaysian palm oil futures fell nearly 2% at the close of trade on Monday after reaching a more than one-week peak, hit by concerns over high stockpiles and expectations that Indonesia would remove its palm oil export levy.

The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 1.96% at 2,000 ringgit (US$480.42) a tonne at the end of the trading day, its sharpest daily decline in a week and snapping three sessions of gains.

Palm had opened higher on Monday, rising as much as 1.2% to 2,064 ringgit, its highest since Nov 22.

Trading volumes stood at 52,163 lots of 25 tonnes each at the close of trade.

"Palm opened higher following strength in the Chicago Board of Trade's soybean oil and China's Dalian palm olein futures contracts on positive developments in G20 Summit," a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said.

Chicago soybeans climbed on Monday to their highest in almost six months, after the United States and China agreed to a 90-day truce that will permit talks to end a festering trade war that has roiled commodities markets.

"If the market buys more soyoil, palm will be less attractive," said a Singapore based trader.

Traders also said the palm market fell later in the day over concerns of rising stockpiles and expectations that top palm producer and exporter Indonesia will soon implement the removal of its palm oil export levies.

Indonesia said last week it would temporarily remove a levy on palm oil to boost exports, after a sharp drop in prices hit farmers. It is expected to take effect once the finance ministry issues the regulation.

In other related oils, the Chicago December soybean oil contract jumped 1.2% on Monday, while the January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.7%.

Meanwhile, the Dalian January palm oil contract edged down 0.4%.

Palm oil is impacted by movements of other edible oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oil market.
           
 Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1124 GMT:

 Contract                       Month   Last  Change  Low   High  Volume
 MY PALM OIL              DEC8   1813  -59.00    1808   1887     255
 MY PALM OIL              JAN9    1918  -51.00    1909   1995    4119
 MY PALM OIL              FEB9    1999  -40.00    1988   2064   22332
 CHINA PALM OLEIN  JAN9    4210  -16.00    4206   4290  251032
 CHINA SOYOIL           JAN9    5382  -36.00    5370   5462  260646
 CBOT SOY OIL            DEC8   28.14   +0.32   28.11  28.22     293
 INDIA PALM OIL        DEC8  489.00  +1.60  483.40  491.8    1523
 INDIA SOYOIL            DEC8     727   +7.05   722.3  727.7   10180
 NYMEX CRUDE         JAN9    53.10   +2.17   52.03  53.85  221574

 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 = 4.1630 ringgit)
(US$1 = 70.4100 Indian rupees)
(US$1 = 6.8902 Chinese yuan)

Read more at http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/palm-slips-nearly-2-worries-high-stockpiles