KUALA LUMPUR, July 25: Malaysia’s palm oil market ignored July 1-25 exports data and fell back on Thursday after the Chicago Board of Trade CBOT soy futures lost steam in Asian screen trade.

I guess the exports data is neutral. Weakness in CBOT is responsible for today’s fall, said one trader. The short-term outlook is bearish and the market may fall to 1,390 ringgit, he added.

Cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) said Malaysian palm oil exports for July 1-25 stood at 713,431 tons, slightly up from 702,750 tons for June 1-25.

At the close, the benchmark third-month futures, October, was four ringgit lower at 1,452 ringgit ($382.11) a ton after trading as high as 1,475 ringgit. It had touched a low of 1,444 ringgit.

Overall volume was heavy at 2,247 lots.

The SGS exports estimates included 89,320 tons of RBD palm oil, 345,414 tons of RBD palm olein, 58,119 tons of RBD palm stearin and 48,000 tons of crude palm oil, it said in a statement.

China was the biggest buyer of Malaysian palm oil for July 1-25, taking 199,563 tons, followed by India, which bought 72,760 tons and Egypt with 53,350 tons, SGS said. European countries bought 119,682 tons amongst them, it added.

In the physical market, July and August CPO contracts saw bids at 1,455 ringgit a ton in the southern as well as central regions against sale offers at 1,460 ringgit. Trade was reported at 1,460 to 1,470 ringgit for both sides.—Reuters