RTRS:VEGOILS-Palm oil slips to 5-wk low on favourable U.S. weather
* Palm oil slips on wet weather forecasts, weaker exports
* Malaysian palm exports for July 1-25 down from a month ago
* Palm oil biased to fall to 2,838 ringgit -technicals
(Updates prices, quotes)
By Chew Yee Kiat
SINGAPORE, July 26 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil fell
to its lowest in more than five weeks on Thursday, as investors
turned more bearish on forecasts for rain in parts of the U.S.
Midwest that could bring some relief to the drought-hit soy
crop.
A larger supply of soybeans to be crushed into vegetable oil
could narrow spreads between soybean oil and palm oil and draw
demand away from the tropical oil.
Market players also priced in weaker Malaysian exports for
the July 1-25 period after cargo surveyors reported declines
from a month ago, reinforcing views that stock levels could
climb after falling to a 14-month low in June.
"There is not enough push to go up after some profit
bookings yesterday, so the market is down again today," said a
Singapore-based trader with a foreign commodities brokerage. "It
looks like the trend is still bearish."
Benchmark October palm oil futures on the Bursa
Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 2.3 percent to close at 2,882
ringgit ($909) per tonne. Prices earlier touched 2,880 ringgit,
the lowest level since June 18.
Traded volume picked up after the midday break to 27,567
lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots.
Technicals were bearish, as palm oil is biased to fall to
2,838 ringgit, Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said, based on a
wave pattern and retracement analysis.
Malaysia's palm oil exports continued to show weakness from
a month ago, falling 14.3 percent and 18.6 percent, according to
cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale
de Surveillance respectively.
Slowing exports coupled with better production expected in
Malaysia could boost palm oil stock levels, taking some pressure
off tightening global oilseed supplies.
Market players are also looking out for a return of the El
Nino weather pattern to Southeast Asia as the hot and dry
weather could hurt palm oil output from top producers Indonesia
and Malaysia, providing upside for palm oil prices.
Oil prices dropped below $104 a barrel on Thursday, squeezed
by a stronger dollar as disappointing corporate earnings
contributed to a gloomy outlook for demand growth.
Other vegetable oil markets similarly suffered declines on
U.S. wet weather forecasts.
By 1001 GMT, the most active U.S. soyoil contract for
December delivery was down 1.3 percent. The most active
January 2013 soyoil contract on the Dalian Commodity
Exchange was almost flat.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1011 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL AUG2 2872 -54.00 2872 2920 487
MY PALM OIL SEP2 2869 -71.00 2869 2935 2475
MY PALM OIL OCT2 2882 -69.00 2880 2947 16128
CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN3 7694 +4.00 7634 7718 190932
CHINA SOYOIL JAN3 9348 +4.00 9324 9398 378738
CBOT SOY OIL DEC2 52.39 -0.60 52.28 53.10 7756
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
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel