By Rosemarie Khoo Mohd Sani
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 (Bernama) -- Crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives traded lower today in the absence of fresh market-moving news.
Fastmarkets Palm Oil Analytics senior analyst Sathia Varqa said Malaysian palm oil export performance in January 2025 so far was lacklustre as the January 1-10 estimates by cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services (ITS) at 350,788 tonnes, down by 21.35 per cent and by AmSpec at 300,218 tonnes, down by 29.12 per cent from their respective export estimates for December 1-10 period.
On the production front, the Southern Peninsular Palm Oil Millers' Association (SPPOMA) data showed January 1-10 the southern peninsular mills' production was down by 3.84 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) forecast Malaysian 2025 palm oil production at 19.5 million tonnes, up from 19.34 million tonnes, exports at 17.3 million tonnes, up from 16.9 million tonnes and end stocks at 1.6 million tonnes, down from 1.71 million tonnes in 2024.
MPOB forecasts Malaysian palm oil prices in 2025 to trade in the range of RM4,000-4,300 per tonne.
Meanwhile, palm oil trader David Ng said CPO ended lower tracking weakness in the Chicago soybean oil market coupled with concern over sluggish export demand.
“We see the price to be well supported above RM4,350 per tonne but facing resistance at RM4,520 per tonne,” Ng said.
At the close, the January 2025 contract fell RM147 to RM4,668 per tonne, the February 2025 contract eased by RM78 to RM4,578 per tonne, and the March 2025 contract declined by RM63 to RM4,437 per tonne.
April 2025 slid RM55 to RM4,337 per tonne, May 2025 trimmed RM62 to RM4,244 per tonne and the June 2025 contract narrowed by RM68 to RM4,179 per tonne.
Trading volume widened to 80,099 lots from 75,523 lots on Monday, while open interest marginally increased to 221,897 contracts from 221,834 contracts previously.
The physical CPO price for January South dropped by RM70 to RM4,800 per tonne.
-- BERNAMA
