Malaysian palm oil down 1.03% on heightened concerns over demand

Malaysian palm oil futures reversed early gains on Thursday, as heightened concerns over demand and forecasts of better production eclipsed worries that the coronavirus pandemic could choke off global supplies of the vegetable oil.

The benchmark palm oil contract for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 24 ringgit, or 1.03 per cent, at 2,315 ringgit ($528.90) per tonne by the midday break. The contract marked its third session of losses on Thursday.

In the previous session, palm dived 2.6 per cent on mounting worries over a plunge in global demand as more countries are under shutdown orders to