KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27: Malaysian crude palm oil futures dropped 1.7 per cent on Tuesday, drawing back from a record high hit the day before as players seized the opportunity to sell after crude and soyaoil markets declined in Asian trade.

The market fell past the 3,000 ringgit level on talk that exports will take a huge hit due to the red hot palm prices, which are up nearly 50 per cent this year.

The February contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled down 53 ringgit at 2,985 ringgit ($885) per ton. The contract has lost 83 ringgit since hitting a record high of 3,068 ringgit on Monday.

Other traded months fell between 13 and 56 ringgit.

Overall trade stood at 8,999 lots of 25 tons each.

Both palm oil and soyoil closely track the crude oil market,which is in sight of $100 a barrel milestone, as both edible oils are increasingly touted as a feedstock for cheaper biofuel.

Oil fell below $97 a barrel on Tuesday as investors bet that the Opec exporter group will boost supply for a second time this year at a meeting next week to cool near-record prices.

US oil dropped $1.10 to $96.60 a barrel by 1033 December soyaoil on the Chicago Board of Trade ended 0.02 cent higher at 46.69 cents per lb in volatile trading, hitting a 33-year top overnight then sliding during the day session when crude oil tumbled.

The contract fell a further 0.29 cent at 46.46 cents per pound on Tuesday’s Asian trade.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Nov. 1-25 rose 0.7 per cent to 1,126,683 tons from 1,119,011 tons shipped between Oct. 1-25, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Monday.

Another cargo surveyor, Societe General de Surveillance, said exports in the same period fell 0.4 per cent to 1,107,615 tons.

In Malaysia’s physical market, crude palm oil for November and December shipments in the southern region was quoted at 3,000/3,020 ringgit a ton. Trades were done between 3,010 and 3,040 ringgit ($1= 3.372 ringgit).—Reuters