Malaysian palm oil futures concluded Friday’s trading session with moderate growth, marking the third consecutive weekly increase.

The palm oil contract for September delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose by 12 ringgit, or 0.3%, to 3,877 ringgit (USD 857.17) per metric ton.

Over the week, palm oil contracts increased by 1.1%, marking the third consecutive weekly gain and the longest winning streak since February.

“Positive sentiment from export demand has fueled buying interest, although gains are capped by the resurgence of the strengthening local currency,” said Sathia Varqa, co-founder of Singapore-based company Palm Oil Analytics, as reported by Reuters.

Palm oil imports to India surged by 56% to a three-month high in June as buyers took advantage of lower prices to increase purchases, according to a leading trade body.

Malaysia maintained the export duty on crude palm oil at 8% for August and increased the reference price, as stated in a circular posted on the Malaysian Palm Oil Board’s website on Friday.

Meanwhile, Indonesia, the largest producer, plans to raise the reference price of crude palm oil to USD 791.02 per metric ton for the period of July 16-31, according to a senior official from the Ministry of Economy. This move would make Indonesian palm oil less competitive compared to Malaysian palm oil.

The most active Dalian contract for soybean oil strengthened by 0.8%, while the palm oil contract rose by 0.2%. Soybean oil prices on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange increased by 0.8%.

Palm oil is influenced by price fluctuations in other vegetable oils as they compete for market share in the global vegetable oil market.

The Malaysian ringgit, the trading currency of palm oil, rose by 1.40% against the dollar, reaching its highest level since May 18. A stronger ringgit makes palm oil less attractive to foreign currency holders.

(1 USD = 4.5230 MYR)