KUALA LUMPUR, July 31: Malaysian crude palm oil futures climbed 1.9 percent on Thursday as strong export data from cargo surveyors lifted market spirits amid strengthening crude oil prices.

A spate of bargain hunting appears to have hit the market for the vegetable oil, which has seen nearly all its gains for this year wiped out.

The benchmark October contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled up 58 ringgit to 3,050 ringgit ($937).

Exports seem to be holding up the market for now but it’s not very certain how much exports will sustain prices after the festival season in Asia ends, said a trader with a foreign commodities broker.

By late August, September, we might be trading at 2,500-2,700 ringgit levels because overseas demand will trickle down and stocks will remain high.

Other traded months rose between 51 ringgit and 96 ringgit. Overall volume rose to 12,067 lots of 25 tons each, from the usual 10,000 lots.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for July rose 27 percent to 1,378,537 tons from 1,086,572 tons shipped in June, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Thursday.

Palm oil producers in North Sumatra’s Medan--home to Belawan port which is the key port for palm oil exports--sold crude palm oil at 7,884 rupiah ($0.867) a kg, up from 7,740-7,780 rupiah a kg on Tuesday.

The state marketing centre in Jakarta sold crude palm oil at 7,888 rupiah a kg, up from 7,803 rupiah a kg on Tuesday, FOB Belawan port in Sumatra.

Buyers need cargoes and they are willing to pay higher than our offer prices. Sellers sold crude palm oil for delivery in August at $950 a ton, FOB Belawan port.

In Malaysia’s physical market, July and August crude palm oil was offered at 3,070/3,090 ringgit in the southern region.

Trades were done between 3,060 and 3,080 ringgit.—Reuters