Malaysian palm oil futures extended losses, trading below the MYR 3,600 per tonne mark and hovering at their lowest in a month, as market participants returned from a long weekend amid reports of decreased Malaysian exports and weakened rival vegetable oils and crude oil. Data from cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services showed sales of Malaysian palm oil products for April 1-20 went down 20.3% month-over-month to 748,535 tonnes.
AmSpec Agri also projected a near 26% slump in palm oil exports to 696,463 tonnes over the same period. Elsewhere, news about the approval by the European Parliament of the law banning imports of commodities linked to the destruction of the world’s forests, including palm, into the EU has weighed on prices. Additionally, India is said to have reduced almost 400,000 tonnes of palm imports and replaced them with sunflower oil for the April-June period.