KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12: Malaysian crude palm oil futures were steady on Wednesday, with the market torn between some investors cashing in on slightly weaker crude and soyaoil prices and others taking up positions on wet weather worries.

The benchmark February contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled down 3 ringgit at 2,877 ringgit ($868) a ton.

Malaysia’s southern Johor, central Pahang and northern Kelantan states have seen heavy monsoon rains in the past few days, with flooding experienced in some areas.

Heavy rains will continue till January in these states, the Malaysian Meteorological Department said in a recent research note.

Plantation officials said heavy rains have slowed down harvest and transportation of the edible oil, which is used in products ranging from shampoo and ice-cream to biofuels.

Other traded months ranged between a 7 ringgit drop to a rise of 15 ringgit. Overall trade more than halved to 5,122 lots of 25 tons each from 12,000 lots that change hands on a routine trading day.

The palm oil market, which increasingly tracks crude oil in recent weeks as it is a feedstock for biodiesel that competes with petroleum, is 6.2 per cent off its record high of 3,068 ringgit hit in November.

Oil prices fell below $90 a barrel on Wednesday on concerns a smaller-than-expected interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve would not be enough to bolster a flagging US economy, as well as the easing of harsh weather that had hit the US energy supply’s key infrastructure.

Palm oil is up more than 44 per cent this year, and exports have remained steady for the first ten days of December.

Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said palm exports fell 1.2 per cent to 449,543 tons while Societe Generale de Surveillance reported a 0.6 percent increase to 432,315 tons.

In Malaysia’s physical market, crude palm oil for December shipment in the southern region was quoted at 2,890/2,900 ringgit a ton. Traders did deals between 2,890 and 2,900 ringgit.—Reuters