KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3: Malaysian palm oil futures were up on the first trading day of 2006, tailing a rise in US soyaoil, but gains were limited by figures showing a drop in December exports.

Cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said on Tuesday shipments of Malaysian oil palm products for last month stood at 991,222 tons, down 3.9 per cent from November.

The benchmark third-month palm oil contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, March, ended up 14 ringgit at 1,429 ringgit ($378.14) a ton.

Other traded contracts were up 11 to 15 ringgit.

Overall volume was 5,500 lots of 25 tons each.

A Reuters poll of plantations in Malaysia has found that weak exports could result in end-December stocks of palm oil being even higher than the record 1.6 million tons seen at end-November (for poll results.

In the physical market for crude palm oil, offers/bids for January stood at 1,420/1,410 ringgit a ton. Trades were done at 1,410-1,412.50 ringgit.—Reuters