KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27: Malaysian palm oil futures ticked higher at the close on Monday, but trading remained range-bound as traders shrugged off January 1-25 export data and awaited fresh leads.

The data is more or less within market expectations. Trading is slowing down ahead of the Chinese New Year, said one dealer.

Cargo surveyor SGS said Malaysian palm oil exports for the first 25 days of January stood at 757,238 tonnes, up from 737,596 for December 1-25.

The palm oil market is likely to be closed on Friday for the Lunar New Year holidays, but SGS and another surveyor ITS will release export data for the whole of January on that day. Trading resumes next Wednesday.

At the close, the benchmark third-month April contract was five ringgit higher at 1,632 ringgit ($429.47) a ton after trading as high as 1,641 ringgit.

Overall volume was small at 3,574 lots.

Traders said at least 100,000 tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia was sitting in bonded tanks in various ports in China ahead of the imminent release of import licences.

China raised 2003 palm oil import quotas to 2.5 million tons from 2.4 million last year, but has yet to give the licences to local traders. China, one of the world’s main edible oil consumers, purchases mostly RBD palm olein.

Traders said China, which normally buys 200,000 tons of palm oil from main producers Malaysia and Indonesia monthly, may start issuing licences in mid-February.

Indonesia expects to export as much as 800,000 tons this year while Malaysia will ship the rest.

China releases import permits in stages, and local trading houses cannot purchase edible oil without the government’s consent.

In the physical sector, the January/February crude palm oil contract was offered at 1,660 ringgit a tonne against bids of 1,650 ringgit for southern and central regions.

Trades were reported at 1,660 to 1,665 ringgit for south and at 1,650 to 1,655 for central. —Reuters