KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures closed higher on Friday after tumbling to a 14-month closing low in the previous session, although the contract logged a second straight weekly drop.

The benchmark palm oil contract for November delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 54 ringgit, or 1.52%, to 3,595 ringgit ($799.60) a tonne.

Palm rebounded on bargain-buying after a heavy sell-off in the last few days, propelled by gains in competing vegetable oils, led by Chicago soy oil, said Sathia Varqa, co-founder of Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics.

Palm has fallen 8.2% this week, as investors are worried that COVID-19-related restrictions in some parts of key buyer China would hit demand amid rising supply.

The Chinese city of Chengdu extended a lockdown for a majority of its more than 21 million residents on Thursday to prevent further transmission of COVID-19 while millions more in other parts of China were told to shun travel in upcoming holidays.

Palm track soyoil lower; high supply, China lockdown worry linger

Traders are awaiting the Malaysian Palm Oil Board to release August supply and demand data on Monday. They have factored in polls indicating inventories expanding above 2 million tonnes for the first time in two years.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract fell 0.5%, while its palm oil contract dropped 1%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 1.1%.

Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.