KUALA LUMPUR: Palm oil futures closed marginally higher on Friday but the market suffered its third straight weekly decline due to weak demand.

The benchmark palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Ex­­change finished 0.2 per cent higher at 2,193 ringgit ($526.78) per tonne.

“The demand is really slow in India and Pakistan,” said one Singapore-based trader who sells the edible oil to buyers in South Asia.

“In India’s physical market palm oil is selling below the import cost.”

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Sept 1-10 fell 29pc to 337,570 tonnes from 475,555 tonnes shipped during Aug 1-10, cargo surveyor Societe Gene­rale de Surveillance said on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2019