KUALA LUMPUR, April 13: Malaysian crude palm oil futures climbed 2 per cent on Friday, fired by speculative buying ahead of the weekend and concerns over a slowdown in supplies.

Dealers said strong exports and the possibility that India might cut palm import duties also boosted market sentiment.

The benchmark third month June contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange finished up 44 ringgit, or 2.02 per cent, at 2,219 ringgit ($645) a ton.

Malaysian palm oil prices surged 40 per cent in 2006, boosted by biodiesel demand, and analysts expect the market to rise around 20 per cent this year.

But palm futures bucked the trend of tracking soyaoil, which fell on Thursday. Chicago Board of Trade May soyaoil ended 0.13 cent lower at 32.65 cents per lb, with the back months down 0.14 to 0.30.

Malaysian palm oil usually tracks the US soyaoil market because both commodities are used in the same products, ranging from food and cosmetics to biodiesel. Malaysia's end-March palm oil stocks fell 10.6 per cent to 1.34 million tons while exports jumped almost 30 per cent during the month and production failed to keep pace, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board said on Tuesday.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for April 1-10 rose 38 per cent to 428,985 tons from 310,679 shipped between March 1 and 10, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said. Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, said exports during the period rose 49.7 pc to 431,121 tons from a month ago.

Traders said Malaysian refiners in the southern and central regions were facing shortages due to a sharp decline in imports from neighbouring Indonesia.

They estimated Malaysia's palm imports from Indonesia in January and February slipped to around 37,000 tons from about 300,000 during the same months in 2006.

In the physical market, crude palm oil for April shipment in the southern region was quoted at 2,250/2,255 ringgit a ton.

Deals were done between 2,240 and 2,260 ringgit.—Reuters