KUALA LUMPUR – The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is likely to trend lower next week on anticipation of higher production.
“Local CPO is expected to trade within the range of RM3,600 to RM3,800 next week with a downward bias, as rising production anticipation continues to weigh on prices,” palm oil trader David Ng told Bernama.
Data released by the Southern Peninsula Palm Oil Millers’ Association on Thursday showed that production last month increased 39% from February, and market players have been projecting the output to continue rising in the following weeks.
For the just-ended week, Malaysia’s CPO market traded mostly higher, tracking the stronger performance of soybean oil prices and supported by firmer palm oil product exports in March.
According to statistics released by cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services on Wednesday, the country’s palm oil product exports stood at 1.27 million tonnes last month, up 26.82% from a million tonnes in February.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the CPO futures contracts for April surged RM122 to RM4,147 per tonne, up RM83 to RM3,947 for May, up RM45 to RM3,737 for June, and up RM10 to RM3,573 for July.
Weekly volume fell to 323,794 lots from 327,332 the previous week, while open interest declined to 232,463 contracts from 268,778.
The physical CPO price for April South jumped RM110 to RM4,160 per tonne from RM4,050 on Friday last week. – Bernama, April 3, 2021
