Vegetable Oil Prices Plunge on Concerns about Demand

Vegetable oil futures were sharply lower on Friday. Continued concerns about plunging export demand drove palm oil prices sharply lower, which, combined with soybean futures weakness, pushed soybean oil futures down more than one cent. Cargo surveyor data for the first 15 days of January suggested Malaysian palm oil shipments dropped 42 percent from the same period in December, triggered heavy selling in the palm oil market, weighing on vegetable oil markets in China. The benchmark palm oil contract dropped nearly three percent (104 ringgit per tonne) to settle below 3,500 ringgit and at the lowest level since December 22. The contract fell more than 10 percent for the week, the first weekly decline in the last five weeks, and the largest weekly decline for the benchmark contract in 10 months.

The National Oilseed…