JAKARTA, Aug 19: Malaysian crude palm oil futures fell below 2,400 ringgit a ton to a one-year low at one point on Tuesday, rattled by weaker crude oil, but expectations of better exports helped prevent further declines, dealers said.

Palm oil has slipped about 20 per cent this year and has nearly halved from an all-time high of 4,486 ringgit a ton hit in March, on combination of high stocks, news of defaults from key buyers India and China, as well as a weak commodity market.

The benchmark crude palm oil November contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell as much as 5.4 per cent, or 134 ringgit, to 2,351 Malaysian ringgit ($705.4) a ton, the lowest since Aug. 21, 2007.

The contract ended down 49 ringgit at 2,436 ringgit a ton on the day.Everything is not so rosy. Soyabean oil and crude oil are weak.

Further defaults and washed out trades are still looming over the market, said a dealer at a foreign brokerage.

People have anticipated that exports will be better. But at least it helped pulling the market up from the lows,” the dealer said.

Contracts for other traded months fell between 34 to 114 ringgit. Overall volume stood at 14,530 lots of 25 tons.

Shares of Wilmar the world’s largest listed palm oil firm, which deals mostly with China, fell 5.3 per cent.

But the market is expected to rebound in coming days but will still be in range trading of 2,300-2,500 ringgit a ton when cargo surveyors release export data on Wednesday, dealers said.

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 6,340- 6,420 rupiah ($0.690-$0.699) a kg, down between 4.6-5.6 per cent from 6,720-6,730 rupiah a kg last week.

Buyers don’t dare to buy. They prefer to wait for any new development in the market, said Aziz Kahar, the head of the palm oil marketing unit at the centre that sells palm oil from state plantations.—Reuters