KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures ticked up on Monday after trading in a tight range, with a surge in July exports so far lifting the market.

The benchmark palm oil contract for October delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed up 34 ringgit, or 0.87%, to 3,933 ringgit ($866.87) a tonne.

The contract traded sideways on conflicting data signals - higher exports, firmer ringgit and directionless related vegetable oils on the Dalian exchange, said Sathia Varqa, co-founder of Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for July 1-15 rose 16.7% from the same week in June, independent inspection company AmSpec Agri Malaysia said on Saturday. Another cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said exports rose 19.3%.

Indonesia has no plan to change rules mandating palm oil exporters sell a portion of their output to the domestic market, a senior official said on Monday, as the country prepares for full nationwide implementation of its B35 programme.

Malaysia has maintained its August export tax for crude palm oil at 8% and raised its reference price, a circular on the Malaysian Palm Oil Board website showed on Friday.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract fell 1.04%, while its palm oil contract gained 0.2%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 1.4 percent.

Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.