KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures slipped on Tuesday, heading for a third day of decline, amid slowing export demand.

The benchmark palm oil contract for April delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 0.4 per cent to 2,258 ringgit ($554.11) a tonne at the midday break. It had fallen to a three-week low of 2,247 ringgit earlier in the day after hitting a seven-month high last week. Trading volumes stood at 13,073 lots of 25 tonnes each at noon.

In other related oils, the Chicago March soybean oil contract fell 2pc on Monday, as concerns over improving crop weather in South America and worries about a looming March 1 deadline for a US-China trade agreement brewed. Soyoil was last slightly up 0.03pc on Tuesday.

Palm may hover around support at 2,264 ringgit per tonne range, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2019