April 18, 2006	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 19, 1427

BANGKOK, April 17: Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended higher on Monday, chasing firmer prices of rival US soyaoil, dealers said.

The benchmark third-month July crude palm oil contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives in Kuala Lumpur ended up 8 ringgit a ton at 1,470 ringgit ($401.6) after trading as low as 1,454 ringgit.

The export figures are not so good, so the market came down earlier, a Malaysian dealer in Kuala Lumpur said. But people bought later because the electronic soybean oil is quite strong today, so people took opportunity to buy.

Soyaoil and palm oil compete for exports and their prices often move in step.

Volume was 4,924 lots of 25 tons. Other traded months were up between one and nine ringgit.

Exports of Malaysian oil palm products for April 1-15 were 595,255 tons, up 15.6 per cent from the 514,831 tons shipped between March 1 and 15, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Monday.

Cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said later in the day exports of Malaysian oil palm products for April 1-15 were 536,334 tons, up 4.1 per cent from 515,291 tons shipped between March 1 and 15.—Reuters