KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Friday for a second straight weekly gain on anticipation of weaker output from top grower Indonesia, and as investors stepped up buying ahead of an industry meet in Kuala Lumpur next week.

The Malaysian palm contract, which sets the tone for global prices, was choppy this week, sliding to a 2-1/2-week low on Monday and further bogged down on estimates of a faster-than-expected recovery in Malaysian palm yields late on Wednesday.

Expectations of weaker production in neighbouring Indonesia, and increased buying interest before the palm oil conference, helped prices claw back gains for a 0.22 per cent weekly rise.

“The sellers in the futures market are keen to buy back with the Palm Oil Conference next week,” said a trader with a local commodities brokerage in Malaysia, who has pencilled in a near 12pc drop in Indonesian crude palm oil output for January to February.

By Friday’s close, the benchmark May contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had inched up 1.27pc to 2,305 ringgit ($639) a tonne. Traded volume stood at 46,438 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 35,000 lots.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2015

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