KUALA LUMPUR, March 22: Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended higher as they trailed a rebound in soyaoil, but a clear trend is likely to emerge after export estimates due later for March 1-25, dealers said. The benchmark third-month June contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed up six ringgit at 1,444 ringgit ($391.93) a ton.

Other traded contracts were down one to up four ringgit.

Volume stood at 5,687 lots of 25 tons, significantly higher than Monday’s 2,340 lots. The market typically sees 6,000 lots or more on a busy day.

June futures ended eight ringgit down on Tuesday after slack demand from key Asian importers and a strengthening ringgit, and traders said prices could slip further as the outlook for domestic production improves.

But data showing a pick up in exports over the last five days lent some support to the market, traders said.

Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS), one of the two cargo surveyors watched by the industry, said on Monday Malaysia’s palm oil exports for March 1-20 stood at 708,345 tons, down 4.8 per cent from the 744,152 tons it had tracked for Feb. 1-20.—Reuters