June 15, 2006	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 18, 1427

NEW DELHI, June 14 :Mlaysian crude palm oil futures fell on Wednesday due to poor demand and weak global commodity markets, dealers sai.

They said higher palm oil stocks in China, a leading buyer,and rising production had also dragged down the rket.

Buyers are not aggressively covering crude palm oil. Thereare ample of supplies,” one dealer said.

But the market moved in a narrow range with the third month hitting a highof 1,457 ringgit and a low of 1,449 ringgit.

Other trade contracts were down between two and 12 ringgit.

Overall volume stood at 4,966 lots of 25 tons each, down from 7,811 lots traded on Tuesday.

Traders said a decline in global commoditrkets had a bearish impact on crude palm oil futures.

Crude oil prices fell for a third day, slipping closer to $68 per barrel, weighed down by an anticipated gasoline stock build in US inventory data.

In Wednesday's electronic trading during Asian hours, CBOT soyoil also fell, with the July contract down 0.03 cents at 24.94 cents per lb by 1018 GMT.

The Reuterefferies CRB Index, which tracks a basket of 19 forward months including energy, metals, coffee, grains andother futures contracts, slipped on Tuesday to its lowest level since March 28 before recovering slightly to settle down 2.41 per cent at 330.23.

As recently as May 11, the CRB had hit a record high of 365.45. Since then, fears of higher interest rates -- that had plagued stock markets for months -- drifted into commodities.

In the Malaysian palm oil market, traders said the market recovered marginally to 1,400 ringgit after hitting a low of 1,392 ringgit.

Malaysia's crop agency MPOB said on Monday that output of palm oil in Malaysia, the world's largest producer of the commodity, stood at 1,391,347 tons in May, up 6.14 per cent from April.

Exports for May totalled 1,168,641 tons, down 5.64 per cent from April, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, also the industry's regulator, said.

Stocks of palm oil at the close of last month totalled 1,573,407 tons, up 3.61 per cent from end-April, MPOB said.

A Reuters poll on June 9, showed palm oil stocks were estimated to have risen 5.9 per cent in May from510,048 tons a month before because of lower exports and higher output.

The market still awaits June 1-15 palm oil exports data due on Thursday.—Reuters