Heavy rains to hit Malaysian palm oil output again in December, says MPOB

Malaysia’s palm oil production is set to fall for the fourth consecutive month in December as heavy rainfall hit harvestingin the world’s second-largest producer of the tropical oil, the industry regulator told Reuters on Friday. Lower output in Malaysia would curbinventories in the country and further boostbenchmark futures FCPOc3, which are already near their highest levels in about 2-1/2 years. “We estimate a potential reduction of around 5% to 8% in crude palm oil (CPO) production under normal circumstances,” Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir, director-general at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) said. “However, if severe flooding persists, the reduction could reach as high as 10% to 20%,” he said. Peninsular Malaysia, particularly its northeastern coast, and southern Thailand have been battered by torrential rains which caused floods that killed dozens of people, and damaged homes, transport links, and thousands of acres of rice crops. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said ...