JAKARTA, Jan 9: Malaysian palm futures rose on Friday, but came off their highs in late trade amid caution over export performance.

The benchmark March palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia’s Derivatives Exchange closed up 55 ringgit, or 3.0 per cent, at 1,920 ringgit ($5) per ton, off an intra-day high of 1,948 ringgit.

The early rally was helped by expectations that Malaysian palm oil stocks for the month of December may have declined from a record high in the preceding month.

Industry regulator, Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), will unveil the end-December palm oil stocks, exports and production data on Monday.

Investors, however, were also cautious about the January 1-10 palm oil exports data, to be announced on Monday by cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance.

The market was a bit cautious ahead of two major reports on Monday. For the MPOB report, people will look at the stocks, a trader at a Malaysian commodities brokerage firm said.

As for exports, so far there is no indication yet but the number probably won’t be better than (for the first 10 days of) December, the same trader said.

A Reuters poll showed on Friday that Malaysian palm oil stocks probably tumbled 13.3 per cent in December from a record high in November, as a low output cycle gathered pace and exports rose.

Inventories in the world’s second-largest producer of the vegetable oil eased to 1.97 million tons from a record 2.27 million tonnes in November, according to a median estimate of five plantation houses, the first dip in four months.

Other traded contracts rose between 15 ringgit and 48 ringgit. Overall volume was 15,133 lots of 25 tons each.

In the physical market, Malaysian palm oil for January deliveries was traded at 1,910-1,920 ringgit a ton in the southern region and at 1,910 ringgit per tonne in the central region.

In Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, the state marketing centre said it sold 1,000 tons of crude palm oil out of 5,500 tonnes it offered, at a top price of 6,369 rupiah ($0.58) per kg, up from 6,278 rupiah per kg on Thursday.

Producers in Medan — home to Belawan port, Indonesia’s key port for palm oil exports — did not hold a palm oil tender on Friday. On Thursday, they sold palm oil at 6,260-6,320 rupiah per kg.

Meanwhile, refiners in Jakarta sold refined, bleached, deodorised (RBD) palm oil, used as cooking oil, at about 6,750 rupiah per kg, down slightly from 6,800-6,850 rupiah per kg on Thursday.—Reuters