June 20, 2006	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 23, 1427

NEW DELHI, June 19: Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended lower on Monday, after falling for most of last week, due to a decline in soayoil prices and weak demand, dealers said.

Volumes were good with 7,814 lots of 25 tons each traded on Monday as players shifted from the second month August contract to the third month September.

The market moved in a narrow range with the third month contract hitting a high of 1,464 ringgit, and a low of 1,455 ringgit.

In Monday’s electronic trading during Asian hours, the July contract was down 0.26 cents at 24.60 cents per lb by 1011 GMT.

Traders said crude palm oil was trading around 1,390 ringgit a ton in the physical market but volumes were low because of a lack of demand.

The market lacks direction and there is not much activity on the physical side, a trader said.

Exports of Malaysian oil palm products for June 1-15 stood at 486,593 tons, down 7.8 per cent from the 527,713 tons shipped in the same period in May, cargo surveyor Societe General de Surveillance said last week.

Malaysia’s crop agency MPOB said last week that output of palm oil in Malaysia, the world’s largest producer of the commodity, stood at 1,391,347 tons in May, up 6.14pc from April.

—Reuters