NEW DELHI Malaysian palm oil futures rose for a fourth straight session on Tuesday, fuelled by lower inventories and mounting concerns over dry weather conditions shrinking output in top producing countries.

The benchmark palm oil contract for March delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had climbed RM37, or 0.99%, to RM3,782 by midday break.

"The two major factors that continue to impact prices are prospects of lower production and falling stocks," said a Mumbai-based dealer.

Malaysia's palm oil stocks at the end of November fell for the first time in seven months as production slumped more than exports, data from industry regulator showed last week.

Indonesia, the world's biggest palm oil producer, exported 3.00 million metric tonnes of palm oil products in October, down 31% from the same month last year, data from the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki) showed on Tuesday.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products in the first half of December fell 13.6% month-on-month to 591,490 metric tonnes, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Friday.

Soyoil futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 0.14%.

Indonesia plans to set its crude palm oil reference price at US$767.51 per metric tonne for the Dec 16-31 period, down from US$795.14 in the first half of the month.

India's palm oil imports in November jumped to a near three-month high, up nearly 23% from October as refiners preferred the tropical oil over rival soyoil and sunflower oil due to steep discounts, a leading trade body said.

Palm oil may bounce more into a range of RM3,813-RM3,835 per metric tonne, as it has briefly pieced above a resistance zone of RM3,775-RM3,781.

Meanwhile, oil prices rose as attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants on ships in the Red Sea disrupted maritime trade and forced companies to reroute vessels.

  - Reuters