KUALA LUMPUR, March 5: Malaysian crude palm oil futures closed around 1 per cent lower on Monday, dragged down by lower prices of US soyabean oil and crude oil. The benchmark third-month May contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange finished down 17 ringgit, or nearly one per cent, to 1,923 ringgit ($547) a ton.

The fall is in reaction to soyaoil which has come down because of slow trade in China, said a dealer. Crude oil is another factor responsible for this decline.”

Other contracts were down between 7 and 13 ringgit, except for March and April which ended higherm.

Overall volume was down at 6,227 lots of 25 tons each, compared with around 12,000 lots that change hands on a normal day.

In Malaysia's physical market, crude palm oil for March shipment was quoted at 1,940/1,945 ringgit per ton. Trades were done between 1,930 and 1,935 ringgit a ton.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Feb. 1-28 fell 10.1 per cent to 856,192 tons from 952,753 tons shipped between Jan. 1 and 31, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said.

Another surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, said exports during the period fell 10.3 per cent to 858,485 tons.---Reuters