KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11: Malaysian crude palm futures fell 2.2 per cent on Wednesday, easing off one-month highs, as investors booked profits on the previous day’s rally with inventory data meeting trade expectations.

It reacted to the MPOB (Malaysian Palm Oil Board) figures.

There was lots of position squaring ahead of the MPOB report, a trader with a local commodities broker said.

Industry regulator Malaysian Palm Oil Board reported that January palm stocks fell 8.3 per cent to 1,829,353 tons from a revised 1,994,710 tons in December.

Traders have said production was hit by heavy rains in key palm-producing areas in Borneo island.

The benchmark April contract settled down 44 ringgit at 1,925 ringgit ($533.8), easing from 1,969 ringgit notched the day before, a level unseen since Jan. 12.

Other traded contracts fell between 6 and 44 ringgit while the Sep 2009 contract was unchanged .Overall volume was 17,768 lots of 25 ton nes each compared with the usual 10,000 lots.

In Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, prices of palm-based cooking oil continued to rise amid tight supply of crude palm oil in Java, the country’s most populous island.

We are facing slow arrivals of crude palm oil from outside Java because shipment delays due to high waves, a trader in Jakarta said.

Refiners in Jakarta offered refined, bleached, deodorised (RBD) palm oil, used as cooking oil, at 8,000-8,200 rupiah ($0.679) per kg, up from 7,700-7,800 rupiah per kg on Tuesday.

The Jakarta-based state marketing centre said it sold 5,500 tons out of 6,500 tonnes of palm oil it offered in an auction at a top price of 6,966 rupiah per kg, little changed from 6,958 rupiah per kg on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, producers in Medan -- home to Belawan port, Indonesia’s main palm oil export port -- did not hold a palm oil auction on Wednesday.

In Malaysian physical market, palm oil for February shipment was quoted at 1,930 and 1,940 ringgit per tonne in the southern region. Trades done at 1,935 and 1,960 ringgit.—Reuters