Palm oil is a weaker competitor than other oils
Malaysian palm oils futures ended lower on Thursday for the second consecutive session, due to weakness in vegetable oils.
The benchmark contract for palm oil delivery in April on the Bursa Derivatives exchange lost 17 ringgit or 0.4% to 4,191 Ringgit ($943.49) per metric ton.
Anilkumar bagani, head of commodity research at Mumbai-based Sunvin Group, said that "Bursa Malaysia derivatives crude palm oil Futures opened lower today"... due to a selloff on the Chicago soyoil market and in South American crude degummed bean oil FOB markets overnight Wednesday and in Chinese veg oils futures during Asian hours today.
Bagani said that China, the largest soybean buyer in the world, stopped receiving Brazilian soybeans from five companies after the cargoes failed to meet plant health standards. This sparked a selling wave on the soy complex market.
Dalian's palm oil contract dropped 2.25%, while the most active soyoil contract fell 1.29%. Chicago Board of Trade Soyoil was down 0.05%.
As palm oil competes to gain a share in the global vegetable oils industry, it tracks the price changes of rival edible oils.
A poll shows that Malaysian CPO Futures will average higher than they did last year in 2025, as Indonesia, the top palm oil producer, increases its biodiesel-based palm oil consumption.
After a short pause due to reorganisation, the Indonesian palm oil fund agency resumed funding disbursements for biodiesel and replanting oil palm trees programmes.
According to Intertek Testing Services, a cargo surveyor and AmSpec Agri Malaysia, an independent inspection company, the exports of palm oil products from Malaysia for January 1-20 have decreased between 18.2% to 23%.
(source: Reuters)
