KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures recorded their first session of declines in three on Thursday, weighed down by weaker related vegetable oils, despite strong cargo surveyor export data for August.

Benchmark palm oil futures for November on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 1.5 per cent to 2,561 ringgit ($639) per tonne at the close of trade, its sharpest drop since Aug 18.

Palm is in line for its first week of losses after seeing gains for three consecutive weeks on tight supplies and stronger demand.

Currently, palm is down 0.7pc for the week. Traded volumes stood at 41,688 lots of 25 tonnes each on Thursday evening, below the 2015 average of 44,600.

“Bean oil, soybean, and Dalian are all lower,” said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur, referring to China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange. Chicago soybean futures hit their lowest since mid-August on expectations of a bumper crop harvest.

The Chicago Board of Trade soybean oil December contract fell 1pc, while the January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange dropped 1.4pc.

Palm oil exports rose 31.1pc during the Aug 1-25 period compared with a month ago on better Indian demand, according to data from cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services, but palm’s downtrend remained.

“There are no aggressive buyers here yet, and palm’s nearby month prices are already at a premium,” said the trader.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2016