Palm oil records first weekly decline in five weeks on the back of weak competitors

The price of Malaysian palm oils futures fell for the first time in five weeks due to the weakness of edible oils in Chicago and Dalian. By midday, the benchmark April palm oil contract on the Bursa Derivatives exchange had fallen 53 ringgit or 1.26% to 4,153 ringgit (1,052.72) per metric tonne. The contract fell?1.8% in the past week.

"Bursa... crude palm oil futures?traded lower after spread adjustments against competing oilseeds. A Kuala Lumpur based trader stated that market participants were taking a cautious approach ahead of the Malaysia Palm Oil Conference next week in Kuala Lumpur. Dalian's palm oil contract, which is the most active contract in Dalian, lost 1.02% while soyoil contracts were down by 0.44%. Chicago Board of Trade soyoil fell by 0.55%.

As it competes to gain a share in the global vegetable oil market, palm oil follows price changes of other edible oils. Malaysia's palm oils inventories will?end a 10-month streak of rising prices in January as exports increased?during the seasonal slowdown in production. A survey revealed.

Technical analyst Wang Tao said that palm oil could retest the support level of 4,169?ringgits per metric tonne. A break below this mark would open the door to the range 4,116-4148 ringgits.

(source: Reuters)