KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 24: Trade in Malaysian palm oil futures was almost still ahead of the Christmas holiday and the release of export estimates for December 1-25, dealers said.

The benchmark third-month March futures, which ended nine ringgit up on Monday, settled three ringgit lower at Tuesday’s lunch break at 1,662 ringgit ($438.16) a ton.

Volume on the local market was just at 659 lots, compared to recent morning sessions which chalked over 2,000 lots.

SGS, whose data is more closely watched than ITS’, has so far put Malaysian palm oil exports for December 1-20 at 586,487 tons, down from 604,514 tons for the same period in November.

Dealers are expecting exports for the whole of December to match or exceed the 941,270 tons officially recorded for Nov.

In trading of physical crude palm oil, contracts for December and January were being offered by sellers at 1,700 ringgit a ton against bids at 1,690.—Reuters