KUALA LUMPUR: Palm oil futures slumped to a three-week low on Wednes­day evening as a firmer ringgit and weak demand weighed on the market.

The benchmark palm oil contract for April delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 1.2 per cent at 2,487 ringgit ($629.30) a tonne at the close of trade, a second straight session of decline.

Earlier in the session, it dropped as much as 1.9pc to 2,471 ringgit, the weakest since Dec 26. Trading volumes stood at 52,062 lots of 25 tonnes each at the end of the trading day.

“The market is down on lack of demand, causing stocks to remain high,” said a trader from Kuala Lumpur.

Shipments from Malaysia declined in the first half of January from a month earlier, cargo surveyor data showed.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2018