KUALA LUMPUR (March 9): Malaysian palm oil futures slipped on Thursday evening on weaker-performing soyoil and mixed forecasts from leading analysts at an industry conference the previous day.
Benchmark palm oil futures for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange were down 1.3% at 2,839 ringgit (US$636.69) a tonne at the end of the trading day.
Traded volumes finished at 59,891 lots of 25 tonnes each.
"Soyoil closed lower last night whereas Dalian is marginally down this morning," a Kuala Lumpur trader said, referring to palm's rival oilseed soy on the Chicago Board of Trade and China's Dalian Commodity Exchange.
The trader added that speakers had provided mixed forecasts at an industry conference in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
"Production will increase this year, but stocks build-up is a big question. Biodiesel policies in the U.S. are not clear as yet under President Trump," he said.
"The short-term market outlook is supportive due to tightness, but the long term remains uncertain."
Leading analysts at the conference said that current prices levels are unsustainable and the market, though supported by current tight supplies, is seen falling to 2,500 ringgit a tonne around mid-year as production rebounds.
Palm prices are usually affected by the movements of competing edible oils in the global vegetable oils market.
Soybean oil on the Chicago Board of Trade fell as much as 0.7%, while the May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was trading flat.
Palm oil production in top growers Malaysia and Indonesia is still reeling from a crop-damaging El Nino in 2015-16. Output is expected to recover by mid-year as the impact on palm's fresh fruit yields begins to recede.
In related oils, the May contract for palm olein on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 1.2%.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1127 GMT
| Contract | Month | Last | Change | Low | High | Volume |
| MY PALM OIL | MAR7 | 2990 | -10.00 | 2990 | 3000 | 41 |
| MY PALM OIL | APR7 | 2913 | -34.00 | 2895 | 2937 | 3158 |
| MY PALM OIL | MAY7 | 2837 | -36.00 | 2826 | 2872 | 29313 |
| CHINA PALM OLEIN | MAY7 | 5882 | +68.00 | 5788 | 5898 | 674762 |
| CHINA SOYOIL | MAY7 | 6536 | +0.00 | 6470 | 6564 | 334204 |
| CBOT SOY OIL | MAY7 | 33.31 | -0.23 | 33.28 | 33.67 | 7926 |
| INDIA PALM OIL | MAY7 | 529.40 | -4.80 | 529.30 | 536.5 | 1518 |
| INDIA SOYOIL | MAY7 | 656 | -4.15 | 655.5 | 661 | 8290 |
| NYMEX CRUDE | APR7 | 49.30 | -0.98 | 48.79 | 50.84 | 262839 |
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 = 4.4590 ringgit)
(US$1 = 66.7050 Indian rupees)
(US$1 = 6.9080 Chinese yuan)