KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose to a more than one-month high on Tuesday, gaining for a fourth straight session, on expectations of higher imports by top edible oils buyer India.

India is expected to import more palm oil this year due to a domestic deficit in vegetable oil stockpiles, helping offset a drop in demand for the tropical oil from the biofuel sector, leading industry analyst James Fry said.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the Palm and Lauric Oils Price Outlook Conference & Exhibition in Kuala Lumpur.

The benchmark palm contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange reversed earlier losses to touch an intraday high of 2,382 ringgit ($657) per tonne, its highest since Jan 15.

Palm closed up 0.2 percent at 2,378 ringgit. Traded volume stood at 42,827 lots of 25 tonnes each, above the usual 35,000 lots.

Published in Dawn March 4th , 2015

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