Vegoils Palm oil falls from 18-month high on declining exports, up 9.5% for the year

by **Cals** Sun 03 Jan 2016, 16:04

Vegoils
Palm oil falls from 18-month high on declining exports, up 9.5% for the year
By Reuters / Reuters | December 31, 2015 : 8:43 PM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 31): Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Thursday, after reaching a new 18-month high, on concerns of slowing demand after data showed exports declined.
The benchmark palm oil contract for March on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 0.6% to 2,480 ringgit (US$578.09) a tonne at the end of the trading day.
The contract reached 2,508 ringgit earlier in the session, the highest since June 25, 2014.
Malaysian palm futures gained 9.5% for the year, due to concerns that dry weather caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon will reduce palm fruit harvests.
Palm also rose as Indonesia's biodiesel mandate is seen creating additional demand for the tropical oil. It will raise the minimum bio content in diesel fuel to 20% in 2016, from the current 15%.
Exports from Malaysia, the world's second largest palm oil producer after Indonesia, have been falling as demand from top consumers China and India slows down.
Data from cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services on Thursday showed a 5.4% fall in shipments for the full month of December, compared with November; while Societe Generale de Surveillance registered a 5.9% fall.
"On the fundamental side, even though production is down, people are concerned about exports," said a trader from Kuala Lumpur.
"There's also some speculation and profit taking on year-end covering, it will probably resume again next year."
Traded volume stood at 46,294 lots of 25 tonnes each at the close of trade.
In competing vegetable oil markets, the U.S. January soyoil contract is down 0.2%, while the May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange gained 0.6%.

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1003 GMT

Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High Volume
MY PALM OIL      JAN6    2400 +108.00    2285    2400     587
MY PALM OIL      FEB6    2404   -13.00    2383    2428    1772
MY PALM OIL      MAR6    2480   -15.00    2455    2508   24423
CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY6    4870   +42.00    4822    4878 1495872
CHINA SOYOIL     MAY6    5724   +34.00    5686    5732 640058
CBOT SOY OIL     MAR6   30.96    +0.10   30.77   31.13    4105
INDIA PALM OIL   DEC5 401.20    +0.10 400.60 401.50     556
INDIA SOYOIL     JAN6 617.60    -0.05 617.20 619.50    8650
NYMEX CRUDE      FEB6   36.73    +0.13   36.56   36.86   23494

Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne
India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel

(US$1 = 4.2900 ringgit)
(US$1 = 66.1575 Indian rupees)
(US$1 = 6.4921 Chinese yuan)