Vegetable Oil Prices Slump on Profit-Taking, Long Liquidation

Vegetable oil prices moved lower on Monday, as funds took profits and liquidated long positions. Palm oil and soybean oil futures markets declined on expectations for weaker Malaysian exports, and forecasts for addititonal rain in parts of South America this week. The harvest in Brazil and Argentina is underway, with the most precipitation projected for central regions of Argentina, which should help alleviate some dryness in key drought-impacted crop-growing areas.

The liquidation of long oil share positions pressured soybean oil prices to kick off the new week. Benchmark soy oil futures closed 1.6 percent down (March contract -103 basis points per pound). Contracts for delivery in May through September were down a similar amount in percentage terms (July contract -104 basis points per pound). In energy markets, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures (WTI) finished more than two percent…