KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell 1 per cent on Friday in their biggest intraday percentage drop in three weeks, weighed down by a stronger ringgit and weaker soyoll prices.

The benchmark palm oil contract for January delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 0.9pc at 2,784 ringgit ($664.12) a tonne at the midday break. Earlier in the session, it dropped as much as 1.1pc in its sharpest decline since Oct. 19. It has shed 0.8pc so far this week in what could be its second straight weekly decline. Traded volumes stood at 20,164 lots of25tonneseachatFridaynoon.

`Today`s market decline is in line with the external market, following the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) crop report,` said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur. The USDA raised its corn crop forecast to 14.578 billion bushels, based on an average yield of 175.4 bushels per acre (bpa), which, if realised, would top a record set last year.

The December soybean oil contract on the Chicago Board of Trade fell as much as 0.6pc after the USDA crop report showed unexpectedly high corn yields.

In other related oils, the January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was down 1pc, while the January palm olein contract dropped 1pc.-Reuters