KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19: Malaysian crude palm oil futures closed higher on Tuesday, boosted by market talk that cargo surveyors are likely to announce improved export performance, dealers said.

The benchmark third-month December contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange ended up 12 ringgit at 1,562 ringgit a ton ($424) after trading between 1,547 ringgit and 1,563 ringgit.

Other traded contracts finished up between 10 and 14 ringgit. Overall volume stood at 9,119 lots of 25 tons each.

The market went up towards the close as there was talk that export numbers for the first 20 days are going to almost match last month's figures, one dealer said.

Exports of Malaysian palm products for September 1-15 stood at 544,652 tons, down 17.4 per cent from the 659,014 tons shipped between August 1 and 15, according to cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services.

The November contract fell as low as 1,517 ringgit last week, its lowest in nearly two months. It closed at 1,552 ringgit on Tuesday.

Stocks of palm oil at the close of August totalled 1,684,046 tons, up 6.56 per cent from end-July, MPOB said. Stocks at the end of August 2005 were 1,333,868 tons.

Crude palm oil output stood at 1,537,236 tons in August, up 11.79 per cent from July, it said.—Reuters