CPO Futures Weighed Down By Palm Olein, Soybean Oil Losses

By Fatin Umairah Abdul Hamid

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 (Bernama) -- The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives continued to close lower on Thursday, weighed down by massive losses in palm olein futures contracts on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) and soybean oil contracts, said Fastmarkets Palm Oil Analytics senior analyst Sathia Varqa.

Sathia noted that these losses spilled over to weigh on palm futures, erasing over RM120 a tonne earlier in the session, with the most active March contract plunging to a three-month low before paring some of the losses.

He added that the key focus is on the Malaysian Palm Oil Board December data, which is set to be released tomorrow afternoon.

“Traders grew anxious ahead of crucial industry and cargo surveyor data due for release tomorrow, leading to panic selling amid a lack of positive fundamentals to cap the losses and spark sustained buying,” he told Bernama.

Echoing Sathia’s explanation, palm oil dealer David Ng said that CPO prices ended lower due to weakness in the Chicago soybean oil market and lower DCE palm olein prices.

“We see support at RM4,200 and resistance at RM4,400 a tonne,” Ng told Bernama.

At the close, the January 2025 contract decreased by RM76 to RM4,635 per tonne, February 2025 declined RM45 to RM4,459 per tonne, and March 2025 slid RM58 to RM4,296 per tonne.

Meanwhile, the April 2025 contract fell RM75 to RM4,187 per tonne, May 2025 dropped RM89 to RM4,113 per tonne, and June 2025 lost RM93 to RM4,075 per tonne.

Trading volume rose to 106,194 lots from 78,596 lots yesterday, while open interest shrank to 225,556 contracts from 227,006 contracts.

The physical CPO price for January South fell by RM50 to RM4,700 per tonne.

-- BERNAMA