Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Friday tracking rival soyaoil and on expectations of a marginal rise in the country's palm oil output, although a fall in exports in May capped the gains. The palm oil contract for August delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.41 percent at 2,439 ringgit ($613.28) a tonne by the close.
Trading volume stood at 26,414 lots of 25 tonnes each at the break. "The market rose anticipating lower production growth in Malaysia," a Kuala Lumpur-based palm trader said, adding this is offsetting the impact of lower palm oil exports in May.
Malaysia's palm oil exports in May fell 8.8 percent from April to around 1.2 million tonnes, independent inspection company AmSpec Agri Malaysia said on Thursday.
Meanwhile, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) said the country's May palm oil exports fell 9.9 percent from a month ago.
In Indonesia, the world's top palm oil exporter, shipments of palm and palm kernel oils fell 13.6 percent in April, data from the Indonesia Palm Oil Association showed.
The stockpiles in producing countries are likely to expand significantly due to subdued exports, said another Kuala Lumpur-based palm oil trader.
In related vegetable oils, the Chicago July soyabean oil contract traded 0.58 percent higher, while the December soyabean oil on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange nudged up 0.28 percent. Palm oil is affected by movements in rival edible oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.