KUALA LUMPUR: The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is likely to trade higher next week due to ongoing positive sentiment, a dealer said.
Palm oil trader David Ng said positive sentiment in the palm oil market is expected to continue to build up in the upcoming week, given the anticipation of lower production as market players await the latest output data.
"We expect the market to trade between RM3,800 a tonne and RM4,000 a tonne next week," he told Bernama.
On the other hand, Interband group of companies senior palm oil trader Jim Teh opined that profit-taking activities might also take place next week, owing to the current ringgit performance against the US dollar.
"As for the stockpile, there are plenty of palm oil stock in the market within both Malaysia and Indonesia, so there is no pressing matter on that," he said, adding that the CPO might trend between RM3,500 a tonne and RM3,600 a tonne next week.
For the week just ended, CPO futures were traded mixed in reaction to weaker export data amid output concerns and seasonal buying.
Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Feb 1-20 fell to 676,949 tonnes compared with 828,910 tonnes in the same period in January, a decrease of 151,961 tonnes or 18.3 per cent, cargo surveyors data showed.
On a weekly basis, spot month March 2024 contract rose RM59 to RM3,969 a tonne, April 2024 added RM47 to RM3,904 a tonne, and May 2024 went up RM44 to RM3,853 a tonne.
June 2024 gained RM49 to RM3,794 a tonne, while both July 2024 and August 2024 were RM46 higher at RM3,736 and RM3,689 a tonne, respectively.
The total weekly volume advanced to 318,995 lots from 272,517 lots in the previous week, while open interest widened to 234,976 contracts from 227,927 contracts previously.
The physical CPO price for March South stood at RM4,020 per tonne, up RM40 from RM3,980 per tonne last week.
– BERNAMA
TAGS: Crude palm oil, CPO futures, Weekly, David Ng, Jim Teh