KUALA LUMPUR: Crude palm oil (CPO) futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives are expected to trade on a slightly upward bias next week, said a dealer.
This is because of a weaker-than-expected output owing to the recent labour shortage.
"Hence, we expect prices to trade between RM3,500 and RM4,000 next week,” he told Bernama.
Another dealer expects the CPO market to trade between RM3,300 and RM3,500 per tonne next week amid high inventory levels and global recession fears.
It is hoped that lower prices will benefit consumers and help ease the rising food inflation.
For the week-just-ended, Malaysian CPO futures were mostly lower, influenced by the softer soybean market performance, falling crude oil prices, lockdowns in several Chinese cities due to COVID-19 and higher CPO production.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, CPO futures contracts for spot month September 2022 decreased by RM711 to RM3,438 a tonne, October 2022 fell RM363 to RM3,542 a tonne, November 2022 was RM336 lower at RM3,579 a tonne, and December 2022 gave up RM313 to RM3,621 a tonne.
Meanwhile, January 2023 shed RM293 to RM3,668 a tonne and February 2023 slid RM288 to RM3,715 a tonne.
Total volume rose to 344,758 lots from 238,728 lots in the previous week, while open interest expanded to 261,706 contracts from 189,745 contracts.
Physical CPO price for September South dipped RM300 to RM3,650 a tonne. - Bernama
