4/09/2007 (Reuters), KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian crude palm oil futures rose 1.7 percent in light trade on Monday as firmer prices of rival soybean oil and strong exports unveiled by a cargo surveyor revived some bullish sentiment.

The benchmark November contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 40 ringgit, or 1.7 percent, to 2,460 ringgit ($704) per tonne.

Indonesia will set its palm oil export tax every month along with the base export prices which will be based on average palm oil prices in the previous month, a senior economic official said on Saturday.

The government on Friday introduced a new palm oil export scheme which will take effect from Monday as it seeks to stabilise cooking oil prices in the world’s second largest producer of palm oil.

Other traded months rose between 35 and 46 ringgit. Overall volume slipped to 3,836 lots of 25 tonnes each from around 5,000 lots that usually change hands by the end of the morning session.

Palm oil, used in products ranging from confectioneries and cosmetics to biofuels is more than 12 percent off an historic high of 2,764 ringgit reached in June.

Soybean oil futures at the Chicago Board of Trade ended mostly firmer on Friday amid higher New York crude oil markets — a supportive technical signal.

Soyoil settled 0.23 cent higher to 0.06 cent per lb weaker; September was up 0.21 cent at 36.54 cents. On Monday, during Asian hours, the September contract rose a further 0.21 cent to 36.60 cents per pound. Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance is due to unveil August export numbers later on Monday.

In the physical market, crude palm oil for September shipments in Malaysia’s southern and central regions were quoted at 2,535/2,540 ringgit a tonne. Trades were done between 2,525 and 2,535 ringgit. reuters