Palm oil falls, tracking rival vegetable oils, crude
18/06/2026 (New Straits Times), Jakarta - Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Thursday, snapping two straight sessions of losses and tracking rival Dalian and Chicago vegetable oils, while a drop in crude prices also weighed down the market.
The benchmark palm oil contract for September delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down RM22, or 0.48 per cent, at RM4,552 (US$1,114.32) a metric ton in early trade.
Dalian's most-active soyoil contract fell 0.19 per cent, while its palm oil contract declined 0.48 per cent. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 0.82 per cent.
Palm oil tracks the price movements of rival edible oils, as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market.
Oil prices fell in early trading on Thursday after the US and Iran signed an interim agreement that would end the Iran war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and waive US sanctions on Tehran's oil, resolving the largest energy supply disruption in history.
Lower crude oil futures make palm a less attractive option for biodiesel feedstock.
The ringgit, palm's currency of trade, weakened 0.49 per cent against the dollar, making the commodity cheaper for buyers holding foreign currencies.
Cargo surveyors estimated that exports of Malaysian palm oil products for the June 1-15 period rose between 9.6 per cent and 23.8 per cent. Palm oil may test a resistance of RM4,594 per metric ton, a break above could lead to a gain to RM4,632, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.
Asian stocks inched up on Thursday after rallying on the previous session on news of a peace deal between Iran and the US, as investors turned their focus to several central bank decisions including an expected rate hike from the Bank of Japan.