December 19, 2002	Thursday	Shawwal 14, 1423

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18: A technical correction saw the Malaysian palm oil futures head lower on Wednesday as profit taking set in after two days of gains, traders said.

I think the market is experiencing a decent technical correction. We don’t have to worry, said one chartist who pegged the next support level at 1,620 ringgit.

At the close, the new benchmark third-month March was 16 ringgit lower at 1,642 ringgit ($432.11) a ton after trading as high as 1,658 ringgit. Volume was heavy at 5,383 lots.

In Indonesia, traders said the country’s edible oil exports will be steady at 600,000 tons in December, thanks to the healthy appetite of big consumers India and China and an attractive price discount.

Indonesia, the world’s second largest palm oil producer after Malaysia, shipped about 600,000 tons of edible oils in November, down from 717,721 tons in October but still up from an average 400,000-500,000 tons in the previous months.

Up to 90 per cent of Indonesia’s edible oil exports consist of palm oil. The rest is coconut oil and oleochemicals. Indonesia is also the world’s second largest coconut oil producer after the Philippines.

Traders said even though India’s winter crop, which included soyabean and groundnut, had entered the local market, that would not be enough to meet demand.—Reuters