Malaysian palm oil futures fell around 1.5% to around MYR 3,980 per tonne after approaching their highest level of MYR 4,060 previously hit on July 26th, amid weaker rival oils on the Dalian and Zhengzhou Commodity Exchanges. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade are closed today for the Labor Day holiday. Traders were also cautious ahead of August economic data from China this week, which includes inflation figures and trade readings. Separately, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said that Malaysia’s palm oil exports for August fell by 3% to 1,201,488 tons from 1,238,438 tons shipped during July. Limiting the losses were concerns about El Nino patterns in coming months and strong demand from India ahead of a festive season. Turning to top producer Indonesia, the government has set its crude palm oil reference price for the September 1-15 period at $805.20 per tonne, which put the export tax and levy at $33 and $85, respectively, for the period.
