JAKARTA: Malaysian crude palm oil futures dropped 1.4 per cent yesterday amid speculation that data due out today may show a big drop in palm oil exports during the first ten days of September, traders said.

“People were talking about a 14 per cent drop in palm oil exports in the first ten days of September,” from the same period in August, said a trader at a commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur.

Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance will unveil Malaysia’s September 1-10 palm oil exports.

“I think the export fall has been partly priced in,” the same trader said, pointing at the possibility for a further sell-off on the news, if the speculation is confirmed.

He said traders were also cautious on another data due out on today regarding Malaysian palm oil production, exports and closing stocks in August.

A Reuters poll on Tuesday showed expectations that Malaysian Palm Oil Stock in August climbed 7.3 per cent to a six-month high of 1.43 million tonnes as exports returned to normal after sharply rising on festival-related demand a month earlier.

The poll also showed expectations that Malaysia’s August palm oil output rose 2.7 per cent from July while exports dropped 8 per cent.

“I think the stock level could be less than in the Reuters poll. It’s probably closer to 1.4 million,” the trader added.

The benchmark November contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivative Exchange settled down RM31 at RM2,179 a tonne. Overall volume was at 13,711 lots of 25 tonnes each.

Source : Business Times