KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23: Malaysian crude palm oil futures lookes set to soon test a new high of 1,200 ringgit on prospects of good exports in November and falling stocks, traders said on Friday.

By midday, the benchmark third-month February futures was up 27 ringgit at 1,184 ringgit ($311.58) a ton after breaking key resistance of 1,155 ringgit.

Volume was moderate at 1,623 lots.

Analysts pegged next resistance at 1,200 ringgit, which will be the market’s highest level since August 16 when prices touched 1,223 ringgit on a third month basis.

The overall technical indicators are still supporting the upward momentum, said one analyst. I think some big players are in the market and they are wise players.

Influential private forecaster Ivan Wong forecast end-November stocks at 1.30 million to 1.31 million tons, down from 1.34 million tons at the end of October.

Wong put November palm oil exports at 935,000 to 940,000 tons against 899,000 tons in October. Traders have even expected November exports to reach one million tons.

One trader in Kuala Lumpur said India was expected to buy up to 350,000 tons of palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia in November. The majority of the oil will come from Malaysia.

India, the world’s largest edible oil importer, purchased 162,797 tons of palm oil from Malaysia in October.

India’s imports may decline in December, which is always the case. Imports may total 250,000 tons in December. But it’s hard to tell how India will behave if our prices continue to rise, said the trader.

Some traders said China’s palm oil imports from Malaysia and Indonesia were expected to be steady at 240,000-250,000 tons in November. China bought 174,008 tons of palm oil from Malaysia in October.

There was also talk China had used up most of this year’s import quotas, which totalled 1.4 million tons.—Reuters