Malaysian palm oil futures hovered below MYR 3,990 per tonne after briefly hitting a 9-week peak of over MYR 4,000 as traders resumed from a holiday, amid weakness in rival edible oils. Still, the contracts are pointing to the third successive weekly gains, up around 1.3%, amid lingering worries about lower January output due to adverse weather. Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur reportedly moved to allow plantations to hire foreign workers, raising hopes that Malaysia’s palm oil output this year could rise by an extra 5.2 million metric tons. Further, there are signs of strong demand from a key buyer China ahead of the Lunar New Year festival. Meantime, cargo surveyors’ data was mixed. Malaysian palm oil product exports for Jan. 1-25 rose 0.64% to 1,064,778 tons, according to Intertek Testing Services. By contrast, shipments during the period likely fell by 8.5% to 1,006,930 metric tons, AmSpec Agri Malaysia said.
