Palm oil higher

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures traded slightly higher in quiet trade ahead of the release of official data for September, but were set to finish the week stronger after two consecutive weeks of declines.

The benchmark palm oil contract for December delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.1 percent at 2,722 ringgit ($642.74) a tonne at the midday break.

The contract has gained 1 percent so far this week, hitting a one-week high on Thursday, after two straight weekly falls.

Traded volumes stood at 17,404 lots of 25 tonnes each at Friday noon.

"The market is quiet today, it lacks direction as people are waiting for the data," said a trader from Kuala Lumpur, referring to the monthly data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB).

"Exports, however, were seen strong. And production is not coming up as fast as expected," he added. The market could give up the slight gain made in early trade on a technical correction due to caution ahead of the data, said another trader.

A Reuters poll showed September end-stocks likely rose 3.2 percent from a month earlier to 2 million tonnes, their highest since February 2016. Output is seen rising to 1.84 million tonnes, the strongest in nearly two years, while exports are forecast to gain 7.8 percent to 1.60 million tonnes. In other related edible oils, the December soybean oil contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was last down 0.1 percent.

Palm oil prices are affected by the performance of related edible oils including soy, as they compete for a share of the global vegetable oils market.