MALAYSIA: Palm oil prices fell below MYR 3,950 per tonne, extending its retreat from the one-month high of MYR 4,250 touched on January 3rd and tracking the weakness in other vegetable oils as lower crude oil benchmarks weakened demand for alternative biofuel feedstock.
In addition, strength in the ringgit and uncertain economic conditions in major consumer China limited export demand further, with a cargo surveyor noting that shipment volumes out of Malaysia sank by 50% on the first ten days of January when compared to the corresponding period of the previous month. Limiting losses, top producer Indonesia announced that palm oil producers can only export six times the domestic sales requirement in an effort to secure ample domestic supply.
In Malaysia, production declined for a second month in December as unfavorable weather disrupted harvesting from the world’s second-largest producer