KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20: Malaysian crude palm futures fell 0.7 per cent on Tuesday, struck down by losses in rival soyaoil during Asian hours despite an increase in exports, traders said.

Palm oil, used in products ranging from chocolates and cosmetics to biofuels, is 2.8 per cent off the record high of 3,013 ringgit reached two weeks ago.

The benchmark February contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled down 20 ringgit at 2,930 ringgit ($872) a ton, after going as low as 2,909 ringgit.

December soyaoil ended down 0.02 cent at 44.80 cents per lb as the weakness in soyabeans eventually spilled over to soyaoil. The contract fell 0.19 cent to 44.46 cents at 1030 GMT in Asian trade on Tuesday.

Palm oil and soyaoil often compete for exports and their prices move in tandem.

The commodity is up nearly 47 per cent this year and demand from the food and biodiesel sectors have not quite diminished.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products during Nov. 1-20 rose 5.8 per cent to 925,104 tons from 874,276 tons shipped between Oct. 1 and 20, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said.

Another cargo surveyor Societe General de Surveillance said exports in the same period rose 9.2 per cent to 950,983 tons.

Malaysian palm oil output should rise to about 16.8 million tons in 2008 from 16.5 million this year, Malaysia’s commodities minister, Peter Chin, told the same conference in China.

Chin, also predicted Indonesia’s output would stand at 18.9 million tons in 2008 and that world palm oil production would increase by 3.7-3.8 million tons next year.

In Malaysia’s physical market, crude palm oil for November shipment in the southern region was quoted at 2,945/2,950 ringgit a ton. Trades were done between 2,935 and 2,950 ringgit.—Reuters