JAKARTA, Nov 10: Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended up 1 per cent on Monday after surging earlier in the session as record stock levels partly offset the impact of gains in US crude oil markets.

With much of the world entering recession, palm oil prices have plummeted by nearly two-thirds from a record high in March thanks to ballooning stock levels as well as cooling food and biodiesel demand.

The benchmark January contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled up 17 ringgit at 1,626 ringgit a tonne, unchanged from the midday break, having risen as much as 87 ringgit, or 5.4 per cent, in early trade.

Malaysian crude palm oil stocks rose 6.9 per cent in October to a record 2,086,452 tons from a revised 1,951,417 tons in September, official crop agency Malaysian Palm Oil Board said just after the morning session closed on Monday.

Exports are fine but production is a bit high. Recession is definitely there so the worst in the market is not over yet, said a dealer in a foreign brokerage firm.

Other traded months rose between 11 and 27 ringgit.

Overall trade was 10,022 lots of 25 tons each.

Palm oil was following the trend from overseas markets but the release of MPOB stocks triggered consistent selling in the morning, said another dealer.

Last week, India decided not to impose any import tax on crude vegetable oil imports, trade minister Kamal Nath said.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Nov. 1-10 fell 5.3 per cent to 320,081 tons from 338,070 tons shipped between Oct. 1 and 10, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Monday.

Palm oil prices are likely to sharply rise after bottoming out at least two weeks ago, top industry analyst Thomas Mielke was quoted as saying by the Business Times on Monday.

Indonesia palm oil prices rose on Monday, tracking gains in Malaysia. The state marketing centre in Jakarta, which sells palm oil from state plantations, said it sold palm oil at a top price of 5,053 rupiah ($0.456) a kg, up from 5,021 rupiah a kg on Friday.

Refiners in Jakarta sold refined, bleached, deodorised (RBD) palm olein, which is used in cooking oil at 5,675 rupiah a kg, still within range of 5,600-5,700 rupiah a kg on Friday.

In Malaysia’s physical market, crude palm oil for November shipment in the southern region was at 1,630/1,650 ringgit.

Trades were done between 1,630 and 1,640 ringgit.—Reuters