KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Wednesday to a two-week high buoyed by expectations of slowing production growth and improved exports, charting a fourth straight session of gains.

The benchmark third-month palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange climbed 1.6 per cent to 2,164 ringgit ($532.35) a tonne, reversing last week’s losses.

“The futures seem to be riding on expectations of slower growth in production,” a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said, citing updates from plantations that a heat wave was affecting output.

A bumper harvest last year in Malaysia and Indonesia, the world’s major producers, had flushed the market with palm oil and dampened prices.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for March 1-20 rose 0.8pc to 925,431 tonnes from 918,047 tonnes shipped during February 1-20, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2019