Malaysian palm oil posts steepest weekly fall in nearly two years
The January palm-oil contract closed at 4,258 ringgit a ton on Friday, down 2.72% on the day and 9.04% on the week — the largest weekly decline since mid-December 2024 — as weaker soybean oil and crude prices weighed on the market.
Malaysian palm oil futures tumbled on Friday, 6 November, logging their steepest weekly drop since mid-December 2024 as cheaper rival oils and a sharp retreat in crude pressed the market, Reuters reported.
The benchmark January contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 119 ringgit, or 2.72%, to 4,258 ringgit ($1,049.54) a metric ton — the lowest close since 5 March. For the week the contract lost 9.04%, a second consecutive weekly decline.
Soyoil and crude set the tone
David Ng, a proprietary trader at Kuala Lumpur firm Iceberg X Sdn Bhd, said the market traded lower under pressure from weaker soybean oil. Dalian’s most active soyoil contract fell 1.41% and its palm oil contract shed 2.41%, while Chicago Board of Trade soyoil was down 0.53%.
Palm oil typically tracks other edible oils because they compete for a share of the global vegetable-oil market. Crude oil was also headed for a sharp weekly fall after US midterm losses for President Donald Trump’s Republican Party raised hopes of de-escalation in the US-Israeli war on Iran, though attacks on vessels in the Middle East continued to provide a floor, Reuters said. Cheaper crude makes palm oil less attractive as a biodiesel feedstock.
A slightly weaker ringgit
The ringgit, the currency in which palm oil is traded, weakened 0.3% against the dollar, making the commodity a little cheaper for buyers holding foreign currencies.
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