JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures fell for a seventh-consecutive session to their lowest level in nearly five years on Thursday, with traders citing talk that major consumers in China and India had defaulted on cargoes.

Easing crude and competing oilseed prices coupled with a strong ringgit and slowing palm oil exports helped to push palm to its lowest levels since October 2009, with mixed expectations on how long the decline will last.

By the Thursday’s close, the benchmark August contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had lost 0.49 per cent to 2,040 ringgit ($644) per tonne, its lowest level since Oct. 8, 2009. Total traded volume on Thursday stood at 36,389 lots of 25 tonnes, above the daily average of 35,000 lots.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2014