KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10: Malaysian crude palm oil futures closed lower on Wednesday, dragged down by a decline in rival soyaoil and as weak export data disappointed the market.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for January 1-10 fell 5.3 per cent to 310,880 tons from 328,414 shipped in December 1-10, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said.

Spot January ended up 1 ringgit, but other traded contracts closed down between 4 and 21 ringgit. Overall volume jumped to 23,775 lots of 25 tons each from 10,000 to 12,000 lots traded on a routine day.

The Malaysian palm oil market has been volatile in the past few weeks due to concerns about the weather.

Prices jumped as much as 10 per cent in the last two weeks of December as floods swamped the key southern palm-growing region.—Reuters