June 21, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 16, 1429

KUALA LUMPUR, June 20: Malaysian crude palm oil futures slipped as much as 2.1 per cent to a one-week low on Friday as dismal export data from cargo surveyors prompted investors to book profits amid weaker crude oil markets.

Lower US crude oil weighed on vegetable oils along with palm oil, which is now 22 per cent off a record high of 4,486 ringgit hit in early March.

The benchmark September contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 75 ringgit to an intra-day low of 3,525 ringgit ($1,083) per ton, a level unseen since June 11. The contract then settled down 49 ringgit at 3,551 ringgit.

Palm oil demand never fails to disappoint these days but then again the recent run-up in oil prices have been a dampener on all sorts of demand, said a trader with a foreign broker.

Other traded months fell between 41 ringgit and 81 ringgit. Overall trade stood at 9,262 lots at 25 tons each.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for June 1-20 fell 9.8 per cent to 749,776 tons from 830,873 tons shipped between May 1 and 20, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Friday. Another surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance reported declines of 11.2 per cent to 754,539 tons.Oil rose towards $133 a barrel on Friday after plunging nearly $5 in the previous session on China’s unexpected fuel price rise. July soyaoil at the Chicago Board of Trade fell 0.11

per cent, treading lower on spillover weakness from crude oil.

The most-active September soyoil contract at China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange dropped 2.5 per cent.

In Malaysia’s cash market, crude palm oil for June shipment in the southern region was quoted at 3,550/3,580 ringgit. Trades were unquoted by the end of the afternoon session.—Reuters