Palm oil suffers worst week in 19 months with 8pc drop

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 (Reuters): Malaysian palm oil futures closed lower on Friday to log their sharpest weekly fall in more than a year and a half, weighed down by looming demand worries and weak soybean oil prices.
The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 132 ringgit, or 2.77 per cent, to 4,640 ringgit ($1,039.19) a metric ton at the close.
The contract fell 8.81 per cent this week, marking its second consecutive weekly decline and the largest weekly fall since April 2023.
Crude palm oil futures opened lower due to weakening soybean oil prices and concerns about weaker demand in the coming weeks, said David Ng, a proprietary trader at Kuala Lumpur-based trading firm Iceberg X Sdn Bhd.
Dalian's most-active soyoil contract fell 1.52 per cent,while its palm oil contract DCPcv1 shed 1.3 per cent. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade slid 0.71 per cent.