11/12/2010 (Business Times) - Crude palm oil (CPO) futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives are expected to trade off their recent record highs next week as the market is expecting a drop in exports, a dealer said.

He said the market was likely to consolidate next week after touching a 29-month high on Thursday.

"Malaysian exports will slow significantly in December judging from cargo surveyor data for first ten days of this month that showed a weak report," he said.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Dec 1-10 dropped nine per cent to 351,598 tonnes from 386,762 tonnes shipped during Nov 1-10, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said on Friday.

 "However, a decline in stocks will help to push prices higher," said the dealer.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board on Friday reported that palm oil stocks in November 2010 declined by 8.72 per cent to 1.63 million tonnes from 1.79 million tonnes the previous month.

It said CPO output for November 2010 declined by 10.85 per cent to 1.45 million tonnes from 1.63 million tonnes in October.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the December 2010 contract rose RM70 to RM3,630 per tonne, January 2011 contract surged RM108 to RM3,670 per tonne, February 2011 climbed RM117 to RM3,633 per tonne and March 2011 increased RM108 to RM3,583 per tonne.

Volume for the week rose to 98,158 lots from 97,458 lots previously and open position increased to 85,371 contracts from 77,910 contracts on Friday.

As for the physical market, CPO for December shipment traded higher at RM3,650 per tonne from RM3,560 per tonne a week earlier.