Crude palm oil futures on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed higher yesterday, boosted by positive export data for the Jan 1-25 period, dealers said.

Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services reported that Malaysian palm oil exports for the first 25 days of this month rose 21 per cent to 1,213,221 tonnes from 1,002,828 tonnes in the same period last month.

Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, said that Malaysian palm oil exports for the Jan 1-25 period increased 19.5 per cent to 1,209,759 tonnes from 1,012,146 tonnes previously.

At the close, the February 2010 contract rose RM12 to settle at RM2,461 per tonne, March 2010 increased RM10 to RM2,466 per tonne, April 2010 gained RM14 to RM2,469 per tonne and May 2010 added RM18 to RM2,470 per tonne.

Turnover dropped to 10,865 lots from 18,676 lots last Friday while open interest rose to 75,690 contracts from 75,539 contracts previously.

On the physical market, January South declined to RM2,470 per tonne from RM2,480 per tonne last Friday.

Source: Business Times