January 29, 2003	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 25,1423

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28: Malaysian palm oil futures ended mixed on Tuesday after a choppy day that saw position squaring and short covering ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, traders said.

The market will be closed on Friday for the celebrations. Trading resumes next Wednesday.

At the close, the benchmark third-month April contract was one ringgit higher at 1,633 ringgit ($429.74) a ton. It touched a low of 1,620 ringgit and a high of 1,635. Overall volume was small at 3,147 lots.

Separately, India has dismissed a petition by a trade organisation to impose a safeguard duty on edible oil imports, according to a government order.

I refrain from making any recommendations for the imposition of safeguard duty on imports of vegetable oils (edible grade),” B K Mishra, director general (safeguards) in the finance ministry, said in an order issued over the weekend.

The Bombay-based Solvent Extractors’ Association of India had filed the application last year, seeking unspecified safeguard duties to protect the domestic oilseed industry from excessive imports of edible oils.

Imports have been steadily rising despite basic import duties of 65 per cent to 85 per cent on palm oils and 45 per cent on soyoil, the trade body had said in its application.—Reuters