By Engku Shariful Azni Engku Ab Latif
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 (Bernama) -- The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is expected to trade with a slight bullish bias next week, given the seasonally strong fundamentals, a dealer said.
Palm oil dealer David Ng said this is mainly due to the seasonally weaker production pattern, which is usually seen in the first quarter of the year.
“The expectation of weaker CPO output would also weigh down the market sentiment.
“We expect prices to trade between RM4,200 per tonne and RM4,450 per tonne next week,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Interband Group of Companies senior palm oil trader Jim Teh expected the CPO futures contracts to trade lower next week due to profit-taking.
He also mentioned that the market would be in a caution mode as traders are waiting for the CPO stock position and export data announcement for December 2024 from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board on Jan 10, 2025.
“The price range for CPO futures contracts would likely trade between RM4,300 per tonne and RM4,400 per tonne next week.
“As for physical demands, it would come from China due to the Chinese New Year, followed by India, Pakistan, the United States, and European and Middle East countries,” he said.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the spot-month January 2025 contract dropped by RM252 to RM4,723 per tonne, February 2025 declined by RM270 to RM4,511, and March 2025 reduced by RM256 to RM4,368.
The April 2025 contract went down RM212 to RM4,247 per tonne, May 2025 shed RM170 to RM4,161, and June 2025 depreciated RM141 to RM4,112.
Total weekly volume rose to 280,197 lots from 194,976 lots in the preceding week, while open interest fell to 233,618 contracts on Friday from 242,999 contracts a week earlier.
The physical CPO price for January South decreased by RM250 to RM4,800 per tonne.
-- BERNAMA
