JAKARTA, Feb : Malaysian crude palm oil futures retreated from a five-week high to finish 3.6 per cent lower on Monday as news of weak exports sparked profit-taking, traders said.

The day also saw trading briefly suspended due to a technical glitch. The benchmark May contract fell 72 ringgit or 3.6 per cent to 1,922 ringgit ($532) per ton, after going as high as 2,017 ringgit, the highest since Jan. 7.

Prices of the tropical oil have been climbing steadily since an Oct. 28 low of 1,331 ringgit, but failed to stay above the key resistance level of 2,000 ringgit amid worries over demand prospects.

For the market to go up in full force, we need to see further demand to come in, a trader at a Kuala Lumpur-based commodities brokerage said.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Feb. 1-15 fell 11.95 per cent to 509,200 tons from 578,282 tons shipped between Jan. 1 and 15, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Saturday .

We only have 28 days this month, so I think the whole month exports are going to be bad, said another trader at a Malaysian brokerage firm in Kuala Lumpur.

Other traded contracts fell between 30 ringgit and 77 ringgit. Overall volume was 17,524 lots of 25 tons each.

In Indonesia, the world's biggest palm oil producer, the Jakarta-based state marketing centre said it only sold 1,000 tons out of 8,000 tons of palm oil it offered in an auction at 7,171 rupiah ($0.609) per kg, against 7,157 rupiah per kg on Friday.

Producers in Medan -- home to Belawan port, Indonesia's main palm oil export port -- did not hold a palm oil tender on Monday.

Refiners in Jakarta offered refined, bleached, deodorised (RBD) palm oil, used as cooking oil, at 7,500 rupiah per kg, down from 7,700 rupiah per kg on Friday.—Reuters