October 16, 2001	Tuesday	Rajab 28, 1422

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 15: Malaysian palm oil futures ended lower on Monday after players found a rebound in exports for the first half of October insufficient to cover production.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil rose to 443,614 tons in the first 15 days of October from 359,967 in the same period in September, the market’s main cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance Malaysia, said.

Intertek Testing Services (ITS) said earlier that exports for October 1-15 were estimated to have risen to 428,352 tons, from 355,691 for September 1-15.

But the market, opening soft after Friday’s weaker Chicago soyoil futures, remained in negative territory after the issue of the data, which compared with production estimates of 1.15 million tons for October, traders said.

The figures may have been positive but they were not enough to offset the high production for October, said a trader. That’s why we saw selling.

Benchmark third-month December futures ended 30 ringgit lower at 898 ringgit a ton.

Volume was moderate at 1,407 lots.

In physical palm oil, offers for October crude palm oil for the southern and central regions closed at 845 ringgit a ton, down from a midday level of 850 and Friday’s close of 875.

Bids were at 840 and trade was reported at 845 for both regions.

Offers for November CPO for the south and central regions closed at 870 ringgit, down a midday level of 880 and Friday’s close of 905.

Bids stood at 860 with no deals reported.—Reuters