September 16, 2006	Saturday	Sha'aban 22, 1427

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15: Malaysian crude palm oil futures closed marginally lower on Friday, as poor export performance unveiled by cargo surveyors disappointed the market, dealers said.

Exports of Malaysian palm products for Sept. 1-15 stood at 544,652 tons, down 17.4 per cent from the 659,014 tons shipped between Aug. 1 and 15, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said.

Another cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance, whose numbers are closely watched by the industry, said exports in the first half of September fell 12 per cent to 552,866 tons from 628,542 tons shipped between August 1 and 15.

But other traded months fell between one and 13 ringgit. Overall volumes stood at 5,829 lots of 25 tons each.

The benchmark November contract fell as low as 1,517 ringgit on Wednesday, its lowest in nearly two months.

Stocks of palm oil at the close of August totalled 1,684,046 tons, up 6.56 per cent from end-July, MPOB said. Stocks at the end of August 2005 were 1,333,868 tons.

Crude palm oil output stood at 1,537,236 tons in August, up 11.79 per cent from July, it said.

In the physical crude palm oil market, sellers were quoting 1,527.50 ringgit a ton for September shipment and buyers 1,525 ringgit. —Reuters