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Jump in Indonesian 2014 palm output to weigh on prices -industry body

By Michael Taylor

JAKARTA, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Indonesia's palm oil output will jump 13 percent to 29.5 million tonnes next year as more maturing plantation areas are harvested, the chairman of an industry body in the world's top producer said, expecting that to push average prices lower.

Crude palm oil output will rise only slightly to 26.2 million tonnes in 2013 from 25.7 million last year, hampered by wet weather and a lower production cycle, said Derom Bangun, chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil Board.

"In 2014 I would expect 29.5 million tonnes," he told Reuters, adding that exports would be unchanged at 19 million tonnes this year.

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"I consider it to be an exceptional case this year," he said. "There will be more young areas being harvested (in 2014)."

The 2013 forecast is slightly lower than his estimate from late September.

"It was too wet in the early part of this year, which disturbed the pollination of the flowers," said Bangun, whose group is an umbrella organisation of major Indonesian palm oil associations and gives policy recommendations to the government.

Malaysian palm oil futures jumped to their highest in more than a year this week and have gained about 10 percent in 2013 to trade at 2,676 ringgit ($830) per tonne.

Next year, the benchmark will trade between 2,400 ringgit and 2,750 ringgit per tonne, and the average will be 2,550 ringgit, Bangun said.

After falling by about a quarter in 2012, prices of the vegetable oil turned around in the third quarter due to a new biodiesel requirement in Indonesia and the prospect of lower than expected output by the dominant Southeast Asian growers.

Indonesian palm oil stocks will be around 2.1 million tonnes by year-end, Bangun said, compared with 2.5 million at the end of 2012.

Major palm oil firms operating in Indonesia include PT Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology, Malaysia's Sime Darby and Singapore-based Wilmar International Ltd . ($1 = 3.2060 Malaysian ringgit) (Additional reporting by Anuradha Raghu in Kuala Lumpur; Editing by Alan Raybould)