JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures posted a second straight weekly drop, despite rising on Friday in a session underpinned by recovery in rival vegetable oils, as rising inventory in August limited gains.

The benchmark palm oil contract for November delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed up 24 ringgit, or 0.64% at 3,785 ringgit ($808.42) per metric ton, rising for the third consecutive session.

The contract declined 1.17% for the week, extending a 5.2% fall from the previous week.

“With two million tons end stocks, market is hard-pressed to rise unless demand picks up. So far, production seem to be picking up,” said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader.

Palm rises for second session on stronger rival oils

Malaysia’s palm oil inventory rose to a seven-month high of 2.12 million tons at the end of August, Malaysian Palm Oil Board data showed earlier this week.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products in the first half of September fell 9.3% to 574,936 tons from 633,585 tons shipped during Aug. 1 - 15, independent inspection company AmSpec Agri Malaysia said on Friday.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract gained 0.90%, while its palm oil contract increased 0.48%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.05%.

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

Top buyer India imported 1.13 million tons of palm oil in August, a 3.9% increase from the previous month to the highest in nine months, a leading trade body said.

Top palm oil exporter Indonesia set its crude palm oil reference price at $798.83 per ton for the Sept. 16-30 period, which put the export tax and levy unchanged at $33 per ton and $85 per ton, respectively.