Lang
Palm oil prices dropped below 4,000 ringgit per tonne, hitting a three-week low, weighed down by weaker soybean oil prices and sluggish export demand from Malaysia.
Soybean oil, palm oil's closest rival in the fuel and food markets, closed 1.2% lower on Monday after three consecutive days of declines. Oilseed prices also fell by as much as 0.9% in overnight trading, touching their lowest level in more than six weeks, as traders continued to watch whether China would meet its target of purchasing 12 million tonnes of American crops by the end of the year.
Weak demand for palm oil added further pressure on prices, with Malaysia's exports for the first half of December falling 16% month on month, according to data from Intertek Testing Services.
Budiman Suardi, head of treasury and markets at Prime EcoHarvest Commodities, said: "I doubt demand will be as strong as the market expects" during the upcoming festive season. He added that rainfall in Southeast Asia would also be a factor to watch until the end of the year, although it had not yet significantly affected production and logistics.
The strong ringgit is meanwhile on track to outperform its Asian currency peers for a second consecutive year, with some strategists expecting this outperformance to extend into 2026, making the ringgit-denominated tropical commodity less attractive to overseas buyers.