Palme ends the week with a loss of more than 4%

Malaysian palm oils futures continued to lose money on Friday as they tracked the weakness of rival vegetable oil at Chicago and Dalian and recorded a loss for the week.

On the closing, the benchmark palm oil contract on Bursa Malaysia's Derivatives exchange for February delivery fell 17 ringgit or 0.35% to 4,904 Ringgit ($1,102.77).

The contract dropped 4.37% in the last week.

The futures appear to be trading in a range, waiting for a new lead. A Kuala Lumpur based trader stated that he was waiting to see the Dalian exchange's behavior before deciding on a direction.

Dalian's soyoil contract with the highest volume fell by 1.2% while palm oil contracts gained 0.5%. Chicago Board of Trade Soyoil fell 0.56%.

As palm oil competes to gain a share in the global vegetable oil market, it tracks the price changes of competing edible oils.

The industry regulator said on Friday that Malaysia's palm-oil production will fall for the fourth month in a row in December due to heavy rains. This is the second largest producer of tropical oil in the world.

The Solvent Extractors' Association of India reported that India's imports of palm oil in November were down 0.4% compared to October, at 841.993 metric tons.

Intertek Testing Services, a cargo surveyor, predicted that exports of palm oil products from Malaysia for the period Dec. 1-10 would have increased by 3.9%. AmSpec Agri Malaysia, an independent inspection company in Malaysia had forecasted a rise of 1.1%.

The oil prices rose on Friday. They are on track to reach their first weekly increase since November. Additional sanctions against Iran and Russia have heightened supply concerns, while an outlook for a surplus has weighed on the markets.

Palm oil is a better option as a biodiesel feedstock because crude oil futures are stronger.

(source: Reuters)