Vegoils: Malaysian palm oil extends losses, hits one-month low

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures continued their downward trend in morning trade on Monday as weak demand has kept prices at one-month lows for several consecutive sessions.

The benchmark palm oil contract for August delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 0.17 percent to 2,362 ringgit ($592.57) per tonne at the midday break. It fell to as low as 2,359 per tonne, the lowest since May 7.

Trading volumes were thin at 8,312 lots of 25 tonnes each.

“It looks like the market is concerned over lacklustre demand so far. The imposition of export tax at 5 percent could dampen some demand going forward,” said David Ng, a trader at Phillip Futures.

Demand for palm oil showed further signs of weakness on Monday, as Malaysia’s exports between June 1-10 stood at 324,947 tonnes, down 20 percent from the same period a month earlier.

The Malaysian government reinstated export tax last month after a three-month hiatus.

In other related oils, the July soybean oil contract on the Chicago Board of Trade dropped 0.13 percent, while the September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.42 percent.

Palm oil prices track the performances of other edible oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

Palm, soy, and crude oil prices as of 0438 GMT

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL DEC5 2206 +17.00 2206 2217 30

MY PALM OIL JAN6 2330 +38.00 2323 2340 1760

MY PALM OIL FEB6 2404 +38.00 2400 2420 10291

CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY6 4766 +118.00 4644 4800 779236

CHINA SOYOIL MAY6 5774 +82.00 5648 5848 788394

CBOT SOY OIL JAN6 32.04 +6.50 31.96 32.30 4561

INDIA PALM OIL DEC5 419.00 +6.50 414.00 419.40 240

INDIA SOYOIL DEC5 633.30 +2.65 632.50 635.80 960

NYMEX CRUDE JAN6 39.57 -0.40 39.20 40.15 18184

* 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

For a table on Malaysian physical palm oil prices, including refined oil, Reuters Terminal users can double click on or type OILS/MY01.

* To view freight rates from Peninsula Malaysia/Sumatra to China, India, Pakistan and Rotterdam, please key in OILS/ASIA2 and press enter, or double click between the brackets.

* Reuters Terminal users can see cash and futures edible oil prices by double clicking on the codes in the brackets: To go to the next page in the same chain, hit F12. To go back, hit F11.

Vegetable oils — OILS/ASIA1

Malaysian palm oil exports — SGSPALM1

CBOT soyoil futures — 0#BO:

CBOT soybean futures — 0#S:

Indian solvent — SOLVENT01

Weekly Indian vegetable oils — OILS/IN

Dalian Commodity Exchange — DC/MENU

Dalian soyoil futures — 0#DBY:

Dalian refined palm oil futures — 0#DCP:

Zhengzhou rapeseed oil — 0#COI:

European edible oil prices/trades — OILS/E

($1 = 3.9860 ringgit)

($1 = 67.3700 Indian rupees)

($1 = 6.4047 Chinese yuan)