KUALA LUMPUR, July 10: Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended 0.8 per cent higher on Tuesday as higher prices of rival soybean oil and a slowdown in production supported the market.

But gains were limited by a decline in exports, traders said. The benchmark September contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled up 21 ringgit to 2,530 ringgit ($736) a ton.

Malaysia's crude palm oil output fell 2.9 per cent to 1,166,373 tons in June from 1,201,255 tons a month earlier, official crop agency Malaysian Palm Oil Board said on Tuesday.

Crude palm oil production for the first six months of 2007 was down 8.2 per cent at 6.7 million tons from 7.3 million tons in the same period last year.

Other traded months rose between 14 and 29 ringgit. Overall trade rose to 17,231 lots of 25 tons each from around 12,000 lots on a routine day.

The slight decline in exports shows that palm oil is not very attractive at these prices and this has capped the market, said another trader.

Palm oil is more than 8 per cent off a historic high of 2,764 ringgit reached in June on robust demand from consumer countries and dwindling stocks at home.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for July 1-10 fell 3.2 per cent to 328,150 tons from 339,117 tons shipped between June 1 and 10, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Tuesday.

Another surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, said exports in the same period fell 9.7 per cent to 312,144 tons.

Malaysian palm oil often tracks the U.S. soyaoil market because both commodities are used in products ranging from chocolates to lipstick and biodiesel.

In Malaysia's physical market, crude palm oil for July shipment in the southern region was quoted at 2,630/2,640 ringgit a ton. Trades were done between 2,620 and 2,640 ringgit.—Reuters