KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 — The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives improved further today to close the week with the best weekly gains of the year, amid worries over the tight supply outlook for the global vegetable oils market.

Palm Oil Analytics owner and co-founder Dr Sathia Varqa said this had driven the rally in soybean oil on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Meanwhile, palm oil trader David Ng said gains in the oil market also contributed to the uptrend.

Brent crude rose above US$111 per barrel amid the prospect of a European Union ban on imports of Russian oil.

At the close, the CPO futures contract for April 2022 was untraded at RM6,820 a tonne, while May 2022 gained RM128 to RM6,692 a tonne, June 2022 increased RM169 to RM6,457 a tonne, and July 2022 climbed RM187 to RM6,310 a tonne.

August 2022 jumped RM208 to RM6,181 a tonne and September 2022 surged RM211 to RM6,067 a tonne.

Total volume, however, dipped to 36,365 lots from Thursday’s close of 65,549 lots while open interest eased to 231,959 contracts from 257,578 contracts previously.

The physical CPO price for April South was unchanged at RM6,800 a tonne. — Bernama