January 26, 2007	Friday	Muharram 06, 1428

BANGKOK, Jan 25: Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended up on Thursday, boosted by India's decision to cut import duties on vegetable oils, dealers said. The benchmark third-month April contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange was up 24 ringgit at 1,880 ringgit a ton ($537) after trading between 1,852 ringgit and 1,880 ringgit.

Other traded contracts were up between 1 and 24 ringgit. Overall volume was 11,013 lots of 25 tons each against Wednesday's 12,770 lots.

The market was up today because India has reduced import duties, a Malaysian dealer in Kuala Lumpur said.

India, the world's third-largest importer of vegetable oils, cut import duties on palm and sunflower oil products on Wednesday in a bid to cool rising inflation.

Import duties on crude palm oil and palm olein were reduced to 60 per cent and those on refined, bleached and deodorised palm oil and palm olein were cut to 67.5 per cent.

Palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia competes with soyabean oil from South America for a share of Indian vegetable oil imports of around 5 million tons a year.

The Kuala Lumpur market could move in a range of between 1,860 ringgit and 1,900 ringgit on Friday, Malaysian dealers said.—Reuters