KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 24: Malaysian crude palm oil futures closed 1.8 per cent lower on Wednesday as supplies from the flood-hit southern region improved and overseas demand remained weak.

The benchmark third-month April contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange finished down 35 ringgit, or 1.8 per cent, at 1,856 ringgit ($530) a tonne. Other traded contracts were down between 21 and 41 ringgit.

Overall volume stood at 22,107 lots of 25 tons each. Palm did not react because he talks about cutting gasoline use by 20 per cent over the next decade. It is not something which is going to happen today or in the coming days, said one dealer.

Malaysian palm oil futures have been volatile in the past month because of monsoon flooding in southern Malaysia, which is a key palm oil producing region.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Jan. 1-20 fell 15.8 per cent to 564,823 tons from the 670,666 shipped between Dec. 1 and 20, Intertek Testing Services said. In the physical crude palm oil market, January shipments were quoted at 1,910/1,920 ringgit a ton, with trades at 1,920 ringgit.—Reuters