KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Friday to clock a fourth straight weekly rise, lifted by a survey pegging tighter production and stockpile, even as floods raised supply worries in the world’s second-largest producer.

The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange advanced 63 ringgit, or 1.47%, to 4,357 ringgit ($974.07) a tonne, its highest closing since Nov. 8.

For the week, palm rose 3.7%.

Malaysia’s palm oil inventories at the end of February are forecast to shrink 2.7% from the month before to 2.21 million tonnes as production, hampered by heavy rains, tumbled to a one-year low, a Reuters poll showed.

Output is expected to slump 8.65% to 1.26 million tonnes while export is seen up 0.3% to 1.14 million tonnes. Palm oil is higher on the impact of the weather on logistics given the ongoing precipitation, said Marcello Cultrera, director at commodities consultancy Apricus 8 Pte Ltd in Kuala Lumpur.

Continuous heavy rains and flooding in Malaysia have displaced more than 36,000 across the nation, state media Bernama reported. India’s edible oil imports are forecast to climb to 15 million tonnes in the year to October 2023, up from 14.15 million tonnes shipped a year ago, Sunvin Group, a vegetable oil brokerage and consultancy firm, said.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract rose 1.9%, while its palm oil contract gained 1.2%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.2%.

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