KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 — Crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is expected to trade on an upward bias next week, palm oil trader David Ng said.
He said the commodity would likely be supported by the increase in demand due to the upcoming Ramadan period.
“We will see strong demand from the Middle East, Pakistan and China ahead of the Ramadan season and this will help lift CPO prices next week,” he told Bernama.
For the holiday-shortened trading week just ended, Malaysian CPO futures were mixed and influenced by Indonesia’s palm oil export restriction, strong demand, tracking the weakness in the Chicago bean oil market as well as falling crude oil prices.
On a weekly basis, February 2023 gained RM81 to RM3,806 per tonne, March 2023 was RM67 stronger at RM3,900 per tonne, April 2023 rose RM80 to RM3,931 per tonne, May 2023 added RM70 to RM3,932 per tonne, June 2023 increased RM55 to RM3,919 per tonne and July 2023 went up RM32 to RM3,888 per tonne.
Total weekly volume expanded to 235,346 lots from 224,673 lots while open interest edged down to 159,313 contracts from 168,241 contracts at the end of last week.
The physical CPO price for February South was RM100 higher at RM3,900 per tonne.
The Malaysian futures market was closed on Monday, Feb 6, 2023 as a replacement holiday for Thaipusam which fell on Sunday, Feb 5, 2023.
— Bernama
