May 25, 2006	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1427

KUALA LUMPUR, May 24: Malaysian crude palm oil futures shed early gains to close Wednesday down as traders liquidated positions on growing fears that exports for May would fall short of last month’s figures, dealers said.

Strong gains in soyaoil futures on the Chicago Board of Trade had earlier helped palm oil prices to rise.

Traders’ expectations that palm oil exports for the period from May 1 to 25, due to be reported by cargo surveyors on Thursday, would range between 825,000 and 831,000 tons, boosted the volume of lots that changed hands in afternoon trade.

Another factor is inflationary pressure that is bringing down stock markets everywhere and that’s also true for commodities.

A Reuters poll showed on Tuesday that palm oil stocks in Malaysia would rise 5.3 per cent in May from 1,510,048 tons a month ago because of lower exports. Exports are likely to drop 15.2 per cent to 1,050,000 tons this month from 1,238,881 in April.

In the physical market, traders were offering cargoes for spot shipments at 1,400 ringgit a ton. But buyers were keen on deals at 1,395 levels.—Reuters