KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell nearly 4 per cent on Thursday evening to their lowest in almost five months, weighed down by weakness in US soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade and weak demand sentiment.

The benchmark palm oil contract for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 3pc at 2,032 ringgit ($491.36) a tonne at the close of a fifth consecutive session of declines. The fall was also the sharpest daily decline since mid-December. Palm had earlier fallen as much as 3.8pc to 2,016 ringgit, its weakest since Dec 11.

“After the duty announcement, destination markets will take their time to buy,” one Kuala Lumpur-based trader said. “Prices of contracts for nearby months have also come down, so forward prices now have to adjust, too.”

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2019