KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31: Malaysian crude palm oil futures closed almost 2 per cent higher on Wednesday, boosted by firm soyaoil prices. Dealers said a weak export performance reported by cargo surveyors failed to dampen market sentiment.

The benchmark third-month April contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange finished up 35 ringgit, or 1.9 per cent, at 1,900 ringgit ($543) a tona.

The futures market has retreated from the eight-year highs of 2,032 ringgit reached in December, when floods disrupted deliveries.

Exports are within the expected range, so not much impact on the market, said a dealer. It is mainly soyaoil which has lifted the market. Other traded contracts rose between 9 and 52 ringgit.

Overall volumes stood at 11,936 lots of 25 tons each. Soyabean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade climbed on Tuesday, lifted by the strength in soyaoil amid higher energy markets.

The soyaoil market closed 0.64 to 0.70 cent per lb higher, with March up 0.64 at 29.46 cents.

In electronic trading during Asian hours on Wednesday, March soyaoil was unchanged at 29.46 cents per lb.

Palm oil often tracks soybean oil because both commodities are used in products from food and cosmetics to biodiesel.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Jan. 1 to 31 fell 20 per cent to 952,753 tons from 1,198,976 tons shipped between Dec. 1 and 31, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said.

Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, said exports during the period fell 19.1 per cent to 957,228 tons.

On the physical crude palm oil market, February shipment was quoted at 1,895/1,905 ringgit a ton. Trades were done between 1,885 and 1,890 ringgit.

—Reuters