Palm oil futures traded on the Bursa Malaysia Derivative Exchange closed at 2,463 ringgit a tonne on Monday, having risen around 2 percent in February after declining for three straight months previously
"In a year of strong worldwide growth, you cannot be bearish (on) commodities," said Mistry, a director of Indian consumer goods company Godrej International, speaking at an industry conference in Kuala Lumpur
"If worldwide growth exceeds 5 percent, outlook gets more bullish" - Mistry
India, the world's biggest vegetable oil importer, expected to purchase 15.9 million tonnes of edible oil in 2017/18 compared with 15.44 million tonnes a year ago - Mistry
South Asia's edible oil imports are set to climb to an all-time high this year as lower production in the region coincides with rising consumption to drive buying of mainly palm and soybean oils from elsewhere
Mistry forecasts Indonesia's 2018 palm oil output at 37.5 million tonnes, Malaysia's at 20.5 million tonnes
Last year, Indonesia produced 36 million tonnes of palm oil and Malaysia's output was 18.86 million tonnes, according to the US Department of Agriculture data.