08/12/2011 (Reuters) - Malaysia is looking for more palm oil business opportunities across Africa as it seeks to grow the sector through joint ventures with international companies, Commodities Minister Bernard Dompok said on Wednesday.

"We have companies (in South Africa) from Malaysia doing joint ventures and we are encouraging more ... I think there is a lot of scope for more corporation of this type in South Africa," Dompok said on the sidelines of a Palm Oil trade fair and seminar in Johannesburg.

"We are going to Nigeria next week and we are hoping to talk to investors there. We have gone to Morocco. There is quite of lot of interest on this continent, it is a growing continent."

Malaysia is the world's second biggest palm oil producer after Indonesia.

The government has projected 2011 crude palm oil output at 18.3 million tonnes, which is seen rising to 18.7 million tonnes in 2012.

Dompok said achieving any set targets would depend on weather patterns.

A weak-to-moderate La Nina weather pattern is expected to trigger severe monsoon rains in Malaysia's key oil palm growing region potentially disrupting harvesting.

La Nina weather condition usually brings heavy rains to Southeast Asia's palm oil producers.