KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 29: Malaysian palm oil recovered early losses to close up on Thursday and dealers said they expected the market to end the year above 1,400 ringgit in anticipation of a drawdown in stocks.

Both palm oil physicals and futures have been hovering above the psychologically important 1,400 ringgit mark for a week after floods in Malaysia’s northern and eastern regions raised concerns about output from plantations.

December is traditionally a period of lower production for palm oil, but last week’s flooding could cut monthly volume by as much as 15 per cent, compared with an initial forecast of 10 per cent, said dealers.

Stocks of crude palm oil reached a record 1.6 million tones at end-November as demand cooled after the end of major festivals in Asia.

Societe Generale de Surveillance, a palm oil cargo tracker closely watched by the industry, said on Tuesday that Malaysian exports of oil palm products for Dec. 1-25 were down just 1.6 per cent from the same period of November.—Reuters