KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures declined on Monday evening, charting a second session of decline in three, as the market was pulled down by weaker demand and overnight losses in US soyoil.

The benchmark palm oil contract for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 0.3pc to 2,408 ringgit ($617.99) a tonne at the end of the trading day. Trading volumes stood at 22,803 lots of 25 tonnes each at the close.

“The market is reacting towards a weaker exports pace,” said a futures trader in Kuala Lumpur, referring to Malaysia palm oil shipment data released last week. Malaysia’s palm oil exports rose 2pc month on month for April 1-20, according to inspection company AmSpec Agri Malaysia.

Cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance, meanwhile, pegged the period’s exports decline at 1.8pc. The export figures showed overall slowing demand growth from a month ago, when shipments for the full month of March were up 19.4pc and 21.6pc, according to SGS and AmSpec respectively.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2018