SINGAPORE: Malaysian palm oil rose for an eighth consecutive session on Monday to its highest since Nov 12 as floods in the country’s key producing states reduced supplies of the world’s most traded vegetable oil.

By Monday’s close the benchmark March contract had jumped 1.6 per cent to 2,286 ringgit ($654) per tonne, after hitting 2,308 ringgit, the benchmark’s highest since Nov 4.

Traded volume stood at 39,627 lots of 25 tonnes, above the daily average of around 35,000 lots traded. A group of millers in southern peninsular Malaysia estimated that crude palm oil production between Dec 1-25 over the states of Johor, Pahang and Melaka plunged 37pc from November, according to traders.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Association, a group of growers, forecast that crude palm oil production in Malaysia fell 21pc in the Dec. 1-20 period compared to a month ago.

Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services reported that exports of Malaysian palm products during Dec. 1-25 fell 2.3pc to 1,077,140 tonnes compared with the month-ago period - the first drop this month as shipping activity slowed for the year-end holiday season.

Another cargo surveyor reported that exports for the same period fell 1.4pc.—Reuters

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2014