KUALA LUMPUR: Palm oil futures hit a near two-week low on Wednesday, dragged by weakness in rival edible oils and expectations for a drop in exports during the first half of December.
Extending losses to a third day, the benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 106 ringgit, or 2.26%, to 4,593 ringgit ($1,084.53) a tonne during early trade.
It fell 0.72% during overnight trade.
Traders are expecting export shipments during the first half of December to decline 5.7% from the month before. Cargo surveyors are scheduled to release their estimates later in the day.
Rapeseed output in India is likely to rise as much as 29.4% this year as farmers plant more area with the winter-sown oilseed, which will help the world’s biggest importer of vegetable oils to reduce expensive imports.
Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract fell 1.2%, while its palm oil contract lost 1.6%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 0.4%.
Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.
