Palm oil on the European vegetable oils eased on Thursday following weaker Malaysian palm oil futures on worries that a firmer ringgit will dampen export demand. “Currency was about the only lead at the moment,” one broker said. Crude palm oil was mostly offered between $2.50 and $10 a tonne down from Wednesday after Malaysian palm oil futures closed between 17 and 33 ringgit per tonne down from Tuesday with market closed for a public holiday in the Far East.
The strong ringgit, which makes palm oil more expensive for foreign buyers, and technical selling following recent gains put pressure on futures. At 1630 GMT CBOT soyaoil futures were between 0.18 and 0.28 cents per lb down in a technical correction from recent gains and pressured by easier energy markets. Liquid oils – EU rapeoil, soyaoil and sunoil – were offered between three euros per tonne up and seven euros down in thin trade due to lack of leads. Prices were mostly following easier CBOT soyaoil futures and lower rapeseed futures. Coconut oil was quoted slightly up on the back of some buying interest, while slack demand caused palmkernel oil to slide slightly. The premium of coconut oil over palmkernel oil rose to around $240 a tonne.