CPO futures likely to see volatile trading next week

KUALA LUMPUR: The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is likely to trade in a volatile mode with a downward bias next week, Interband Group of Companies senior palm oil trader Jim Teh said.

He said investors are likely to trade cautiously due to speculative play while taking cue from the ongoing geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine.

"The world market for palm oil is slowing down and consuming countries will only buy when they need it, but our palm oil stock is sufficient to cater to the demand for the edible oil.

"CPO futures market will move in a volatile pattern next week, while physical buyers seem to be looking for a price range between RM4,200 and RM4,600 per tonne," he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, palm oil trader David Ng said the expectation of weaker palm oil export for March may influence the players' activities.

"Nevertheless, the low inventory level has also kept sentiment towards palm oil higher," he said.

On Friday, independent inspection company AmSpec Agri Malaysia reported that Malaysia's palm oil export for March 1-25 fell 4.87 per cent to 1,008,706 tonnes from 1,060,303 tonnes shipped during the same period last month.

For the week just-ended, CPO futures were traded mostly higher, in sync with the movement of soybean oil on the US Chicago Board of Trade as well as developments on the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, April 2022 advanced RM500 to RM6,616 per tonne, May 2022 added RM539 to RM6,299 per tonne, and June 2022 rose RM398 to RM6,027 per tonne.

July 2022 was up by RM291 at RM5,858 per tonne, while August 2022 and September 2022 increased RM231 each to RM5,745 per tonne and RM5,698 per tonne, respectively.

Weekly volume declined to 281,800 lots from 354,606 lots last week while open interest fell to 240,695 contracts from 249,414 contracts previously.

The physical CPO price for March South increased by RM300 to RM6,700 a tonne. - Bernama