The benchmark palm oil contract for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 3 percent at 2,032 ringgit ($491.36) a tonne at the close of a fifth consecutive session of declines. Malaysia announced this week that it would defer the imposition of an export duty on crude palm oil to Dec. 31 in an effort to boost palm oil exports and expand in new markets. Palm prices have been rangebound over the past two months because of high end-stocks and flat demand. Stockpiles in Malaysia had climbed to their highest in at least 19 years in December before easing 4.6 percent in March, data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) showed. In related oils, the Chicago May soybean oil contract fell 0.7 percent on Wednesday and was down a further 0.5 percent on Thursday.

Source: The Star May 02, 2019 22:41 UTC