KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures extended gains for a second day on Thursday, underpinned by concerns over weaker production amid higher rainfall and as cargo surveyor data showed an increase in early November exports.

The benchmark palm oil contract for January delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 30 ringgit, or 0.61%, to 4,950 ringgit ($1,192.34) a tonne by the midday break.

The contract opened higher in continuation of a bullish recovery, triggered by higher Chinese vegetable oil futures and overnight rise in Chicago soy oil, said Anilkumar Bagani, research head of Mumbai-based vegetable oils broker Sunvin Group.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Nov. 1-10 rose 13.4% to 563,093 tonnes from the same period in October, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said.

"There are signs of weakness in November production with some planters observing less fruit bunches and higher rainfall," Adrian Kok, an equity analyst at Kenanga Investment Bank, said in a note.

Kenanga forecasts November production to decline 3.8% to 1.66 million tonnes from the prior month. Inventory is pegged to fall 2.9% to 1.78 million tonnes.

Malaysia's end-October inventories rose 4.4% from the month before as exports sank while production climbed to a 13-month high, data from the palm oil board showed on Wednesday.

"We project prices to remain firm at 4,000 ringgit-5,000 ringgit in November as production is peaking below its potential and labour shortage issues in Malaysia remain unresolved for now," Ivy Ng, regional head of plantations research at CGS-CIMB Research, said in a note.

Dalian's most-active soyoil contract rose 2.7%, while its palm oil contract was up 3.4%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade gained 0.2%.

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

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