KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures dropped over 2 per cent to their lowest in more than three years on Friday, tracking weakness in soyoil and as concerns of a slowdown in exports weighed.

The benchmark palm oil contract for January delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed 2.1pc lower at 2,042 ringgit ($488.75) a tonne, charting a fourth straight session of declines. Earlier in the session, it hit its lowest since September 2015 at 2,039 ringgit. Palm declined 5.2pc this week, its biggest weekly decline since the week ended July 13. Trading volumes totalled 54,556 lots of 25 tonnes each in Friday’s trade.

Palm oil is expected to fall further as weakness in competing vegetable oils continues, a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018