SINGAPORE: Malaysian palm oil slid more than 3 per cent on Thursday as the market snapped two sessions of gains to drop to its lowest in almost six weeks, under pressure from plentiful global edible oil supplies and slowing demand.

The benchmark April contract finished down 3.5pc, or 77 ringgit, at 2,133 ringgit ($588) per tonne after dropping to 2,128 ringgit a tonne, its lowest since Dec. 19.

Traded volumes stood at 56,385 lots of 25 tonnes each, well above the typical 35,000 lots.

The demand remains weak. Exports of Malaysian palm oil products during Jan. 1-25 fell 17.7pc from a month earlier, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Monday.

In other vegetable oil markets, US soyoil fell 1.4pc in Asian trade and the most active soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange lost 1pc.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2015

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