KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 20:Malaysian crude palm oil futures jumped 6.5 per cent on Wednesday to a one-week high but the outlook remained uncertain due to an upswing in production and talk of more defaults.

But this rebound may not sustain because we are entering the peak production months of August and September.

Palm oil has dropped about 15 per cent this year and has nearly halved from an all-time high of 4,486 ringgit a ton hit in March, as high stocks and news of defaults from key buyers India and China kept traders on tenterhooks.

The benchmark November contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose as much as 158 ringgit to 2,594 ringgit ($779) per ton, a level unseen since Aug. 14.

The contract then settled up 2,591 ringgit.

Other traded months rose between 72 and 167 ringgit Overall volume slipped to 13,040 lots of 25 tons each.

Crude oil prices rose near $115. The most-active January 2009 soyaoil contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange jumped more than 4.6 per cent, while September soyaoil in the United States climbed 1.7 per cent.

The tanker was heading to Rotterdam from Dumai in Sumatra, MISC Bhd said in a statement.

About 800,000 tons of palm oil have either been deferred or defaulted over the past few week by main Asian consumers China, India and Pakistan because of lower domestic prices and overflowing local supplies.

Bangladesh buyers may halt edible oil purchases “very soon” due to sharp falls in global prices and sufficient supplies for the fasting month of Ramazan in September, an industry official said on Tuesday. But China expected 320,000 tons of palm oil to arrive during August, the Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for August 1-20 only rose as much as 8.4 per cent to 904,645 tons, cargo surveyors reported on Wednesday.

Palm oil producers in North Sumatra’s Medan — home to Belawan port, which is the key port for palm oil exports -- did not hold any auction on Wednesday.

The market is still quiet. Players are now more careful before getting into deals, said a dealer in a refiner in Jakarta.

In the physical market in Malaysia, crude palm oil for delivery in August and September were called at 2,580/2,600 ringgit a ton in southern region. Trades were done between 2,530 and 2,600 ringgit.—Reuters