KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18: Malaysian crude palm oil futures rose 1.4 per cent on Monday, bouncing off one-year lows hit earlier in the session as investors were torn between firmer commodity prices and talk that Asia buyers will default cargoes.

Palm oil prices have slid 18.5 per cent this year on a knock-out combination of high stocks, news of defaults from China and India as well as weak commodity markets.The benchmark crude palm oil November contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 44 ringgit to 2,408 ringgit ($723) but settled up 33 ringgit at 2,485 ringgit per ton.

“Crude oil markets are giving a leg up to palm oil markets and beside palm oil has been oversold for a bit and players need to take up some sort of a position,” said a trader with a local brokerage.

Other traded months rose between 18 and 32 ringgit.

Overall trade stood at 10,089 lots of 25 tonnes each.

Indian palm oil importers have asked Malaysian and Indonesian producers to defer up to 100,000 tons of crude palm oil meant for August delivery to September and October, Indian traders said on Monday.

“The market is in a panic mode because there is no knowing when India and China will start defaulting this week,” said a trader from India. “With prices going down further, more default news will come in and this adds to the worry that stocks in Malaysia are going overflow.”

Buyers from China and India have cancelled or renegotiated around 800,000 tons of palm oil deals in the past few weeks as prices slump, dealers said last week. But exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Aug. 1-15 recovered, rising as much as 30 per cent to roughly 630,000 tons.—Reuters