12/02/2008 (The News - International, Pakistan), Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian crude palm oil futures edged up 0.8 per cent on Monday, recovering from sharp declines earlier as investors covered shorts after rival soyoil markets swung into positive territory in Asian trade.

Trading was light after the long weekend holiday but caution was giving way to speculative buys with traders saying demand looked resilient despite the steep prices and US soyoil prices were set to jump on red-hot wheat markets.

Palm oil is just 1.3 per cent off an historic high of 3,458 ringgit hit last week and has gained almost 12 per cent this year on Indonesian plans to hike export taxes and on bullish crude and vegetable oil prices.

The benchmark April contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled up 27 ringgit at 3,412 ringgit ($1,052) a tonne, after going as low as 3,323 ringgit in morning trade. Other traded months rose 19-34 ringgit, except for the June contract which fell 56 ringgit. Overall, trade fell to 7,322 lots of 25 tonnes each from the usual 10,000 lots.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Feb. 1-10 rose 8.1 per cent to 335,764 tonnes from the 310,737 tonnes shipped Jan. 1-10, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said. Another surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance said exports were up 1.7 per cent to 362,366 tonnes.

The south east Asian nation’s January palm oil stocks are likely to rise 8.2 per cent to 1.82 million tonnes, the highest in at least 25 years as exports fall sharply on record high prices, a Reuters poll showed last week. Official palm oil production, stocks and export figures for January will be released on Feb. 13, industry regulator Malaysian Palm Oil Board said.