April 26, 2006	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27, 1427

KUALA LUMPUR, April 25: Malaysian crude palm oil futures retreated on Tuesday, weighed down by weakness in rival US soyaoil and the market’s failure to test the 1,500 ringgit a ton barrier, traders said.

The benchmark third-month July contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended down 12 ringgit at 1,482 ringgit ($406.92) a ton, off the day’s low of 1,479.

Other traded months fell between six and 15 ringgit. Overall volume stood at 6,943 lots of 25 tons each, sharply down from Monday’s 12,301 lots.

Societe Generale de Surveillance said exports of Malaysian oil palm products for the first 25 days of April stood at 980,876 tons, up 14.9 per cent from the 853,838 reported for March 1-25.

The contract fell another 0.17 cent to 24.33 cents in Tuesday’s electronic trading during Asian hours.

In physicals, April crude palm oil was offered at 1,435 ringgit a ton in central and southern regions, against bids of 1,425 ringgit. Trades were done at 1,420-1,425 ringgit in the southern region.

May crude palm oil was offered at 1,455 ringgit in both regions against bids of 1,450 ringgit. Trades were reported at 1,450-1,455 ringgit.—Reuters