KUALA LUMPUR, April 21: Malaysian crude palm oil futures fell as much as 3.3 per cent on Monday to a one-week low as profit-taking spread through vegetable oil markets and data on palm oil shipments failed to live up to bullish expectations.

Trader said lower-than-expected exports for April 1-20 reignited fears of a build-up in palm oil supplies in Malaysia, the world’s second-largest producer of the vegetable oil and pulled prices further along a downtrend.

The benchmark July contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell to a low of 3,435 ringgit, a level not seen since April 14.

The contract then settled down 2.7 per cent at 3,459 ringgit ($1,102) per ton.

Technically inspired profit-taking is taking place and the market will trade between 3,400 to 3,450 ringgit, said a leading trader with a domestic brokerage.

The bears are still out because exports have not quite recovered so far.

Other traded months fell between 40 and 194 ringgit a ton in overall trade of 11,323 lots of 25 tons each.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for April 1-20 fell 5.3 per cent to 782,609 tons from 826,713 tons shipped between March 1 and 20, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Monday.

Although the decline was far less pronounced than the drop of 41 per cent between April 1 and 10, many traders were expecting a full recovery on the back of rising demand from India and China.

Another cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance reported a marginal increase of 4.6 per cent to 862,636 tons.

With demand not really recovering, supplies in Malaysia are now expected to reach record levels as local refiners are well-stocked and even renting out additional storage space, traders have said.

But China’s soyabean traders expect the market to turn bullish as crushers start active purchases this week, spurred by fears that prices will rise further, according to a survey by an official think tank on Friday.

In Malaysia’s physical market, crude palm oil for April shipment in the southern region was quoted at 3,475/3,485 ringgit a ton. Trades were done 3,480 ringgit.—Reuters