December 15, 2001	Saturday	Ramazan 29, 1422

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14: Malaysian crude palm oil futures firmed at the close on Friday, but slow volume showed many players had lost interest in the market ahead of next week’s holiday.

Participants also showed little reaction to the December crop data released by influential private forecaster Ivan Wong. The market will be closed on Dec 17 through 19 for the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.

“People are in an absolute holiday mood. I would say the figure is neutral because the numbers have been widely anticipated,” one trader said.

Wong estimated Malaysia’s palm oil output in December at 880,000-885,000 tons, down 17 percent from November, traders who obtained the data said on Friday.

They said Wong forecast end-December stocks at 1.16 million tons, down from the official 1.29 million in November. December exports were estimated at 865,000-870,000 tons, down from the official 982,941 tons in November.

Wong’s latest supply-demand report will be published by Reuters on December 20.

At the close, the benchmark third-month February futures was up 12 ringgit at 1,182 ringgit ($311.05) a ton after trading as low as 1,165 ringgit.

Market volume was slow at 743 lots at 1030 GMT, but much higher than Thursday’s 526 lots.

In Indonesia, the world’s second largest producer after Malaysia, sellers were offering no discount for palm oil due to tightening stocks and increased demand from overseas ahead of the year end, traders said.

They said fresh transactions during the past two days had largely dried up as most suppliers in the world’s largest Muslim nation, had begun closing down for the weekend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrating the end of the Ramadan fasting month.

“Demand has been great since November from China, Europe, India and others. We are no longer selling palm oil at a discount to Malaysia,” said one trader in Medan, North Sumatra.

“I heard some buyers are asking for up to $10 a ton above Malaysia because no one has been selling oils over the past two days. —Reuters