February 14, 2008	Thursday	Safar 06, 1429

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 13: Malaysian crude palm oil futures fell on Wednesday as rising production figures by an official crop agency sparked worries of a supply build-up and rival soyaoil weakened in Asian trade, dealers said.

Palm oil has fallen further from record highs of 3,458 ringgit hit last week on volatile crude and vegetable oil markets but has been supported by Jakarta’s plants to hike export taxes, traders said.

The benchmark April contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled down 15 ringgit at 3,360 ringgit ($1,038) a ton, after going as low as 3,338 ringgit.

Other traded months fell between 14 and 40 ringgit. Overall trade fell to 7,842 lots of 25 tons from the usual 10,000 lots.

—Reuters