KUALA LUMPUR, May 4: Malaysian crude palm oil futures slipped on Friday as players took profit after new eight-year highs earlier in the session.

The benchmark third-month July contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 16 ringgit, or 0.7 per cent, at 2,283 ringgit ($668) a ton at the end of the morning session.

“It is more of profit taking because yesterday the prices shot up too much in response to the bullish price outlooks at the Indonesia conference,” said a dealer with a leading plantation house.

Traders said palm oil futures are likely to decline next week before key export and stocks numbers are announced on Thursday.

“There should be more profit taking in the coming week until more news comes in from palm oil board and cargo surveyors,” one trader said.

The market has gained more than 14 per cent this year after surging 40 per cent in 2006 on the back of demand from the biodiesel and food sectors.

The most-active month rose 3.8 per cent on Thursday after top industry analyst Dorab Mistry gave bullish forecasts for palm oil prices.

Malaysian palm oil prices will soon reach 2,400 ringgit a ton and may cross 2,500 ringgit, said Mistry, a director at Godrej International Ltd.

Other traded contracts fell between 1 and 18 ringgit. Overall volume stood at 4,841 lots of 25 tonnes each.

Malaysia’s exports picked up in April after months of slowdown because of demand from the world's top importers, China and India.—Reuters