KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11: Malaysian crude palm oil futures fell as much as 4.3 per cent to a new 10-month low on Monday, as faltering energy and vegetable oil markets encouraged a sell-off, despite good export data from cargo surveyors.

Vegetable oil prices, which have slipped more than 12 per cent this year, may drop even further on a combination of weaker crude oil prices, bumper crops for soyabeans and palm oil.

The benchmark October contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell as much as 120 ringgit to 2,659 ringgit a ton ($805), a level not seen since Oct. 11, 2007.

The contract then settled down 108 ringgit at 2,671 ringgit.

The 2,500-ringgit level is dangerously looming ahead, said a trader with a foreign commodities broker.

Oil rebounded more than $1 on Monday on supply disruption fears, clawing back some gains from last week’s sharp declines but soybean complexes at Chicago Board of Trade and Dalian Commodity Exchange continued to falter.

The most-active January 2009 soyaoil contract in Dalian fell by its daily limit.

Good key data on palm oil exports and stocks were largely ignored by the market, although some analysts pointed out a slowdown in stocks was imminent.

Towards the fourth quarter, production would have softened because the oil palm trees would have undergone considerable stress after months of high yields, said James Ratnam, an analyst with TA Securities.

Malaysia’s crude palm oil stocks fell 2.8 per cent to 1,977,060 tons in July, more than the 2.2 per cent fall estimated in a Reuters poll. But the strength in exports will not run down stocks so quickly, other analysts and traders said.

Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services reported on Monday exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Aug. 1-10 rose 14.9 per cent to 407,922 tonnes while Societe Generale de Surveillance saw an increase 23.2 per cent to 401,800 tons.

In Malaysia’s physical market, August and September crude palm oil was offered at 2,700/2,720 ringgit in the southern region. Trades were unquoted by the end of the afternoon session.—Reuters