KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Thursday, snapping two days of gains, as it tracked weaker crude oil prices and a drop in US soyoil in Chicago.

The benchmark palm oil contract for January delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed down 1 per cent at 2,239 ringgit ($538.87) a tonne, its sharpest decline in a week. It fell as much as 1.6pc during the day to 2,224 ringgit. Trading volumes totalled 54,283 lots of 25 tonnes each.

“Palm is down mirroring weakness in competing vegetable oils,” said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader, referring to soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade and related edible oils on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange. A drop in crude oil prices also contributed to palm’s declines, he said.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2018