KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures climbed on Thursday, recovering from a near two-and-a-half-month closing low hit in the previous session, as heavy rains and floods in the top two producing countries stoked concerns over output.

The benchmark palm oil contract for April delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed up 62 ringgit, or 1.9%, at 3,283 ringgit ($814.64) a tonne.

“Crude palm oil futures snapped two days of steep losses on bargain buying and higher soybean oil close on the Chicago Board of Trade, but mixed Dalian and firmer ringgit were capping gains,” said Sathia Varqa, co-founder of Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics.

Indonesia’s production in 2021 is seen rising 1.8% from the year before to 48.3 million tonnes, while rival Malaysia’s production is pegged to rebound by 2.4% to 19.6 million tonnes, a Reuters poll showed.

Palm oil prices are forecast to average at 2,800 ringgit ($694.96) a tonne this year, its highest since 2012, according to the poll.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract gained 0.6%, while its palm oil contract fell 0.1%.