KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14: Malaysia’s crude palm oil futures fell on Monday as players trimmed positions after a drop in soyaoil prices and ahead of export data for the first half of November, dealers said.

The benchmark third-month January contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended down 7 ringgit at 1,429 ringgit ($378.24) a ton after trading as low as 1,425.

Overall volume was a light 2,186 lots of 25 tons each. The market can easily surpass 6,000 lots on a busy day.

People are a bit nervous ahead of the export numbers, although we expect the drop in exports (from last month) to be smaller than in the first 10 days (of November), said a trader.

Two cargo surveyors watched by the market Societe Generale de Surveillance and Intertek Testing Services will release on Tuesday estimates of Malaysian palm oil shipments for the first 15 days of November.

SGS had estimated exports for Nov. 1-10 to have fallen 40 per cent to 285,482 tons from the 473,891 tracked for Oct. 1-10. The drop was partly due to the Deepavali and Eid al-Fitr holidays.

Chicago Board of Trade soyaoil futures for December ended down 0.03 cent at 22.74 cents a lb on Friday, pressured by lingering concerns about big US soyaoil stocks.

In physical dealings of crude palm oil in Malaysia, the November contract was quoted at 1,435/1,440 ringgit a ton in southern and central regions. Deals were reported at 1,430 to 1,440 ringgit for both regions.

December (south and central) was quoted at 1,435/1,440 ringgit. No trades were reported.

—Reuters