KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 — Crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives (BMD) rebounded from last week’s decline to end marginally higher today, as bargain hunting emerged due to the recent sell-down following a sluggish export pace, dealers said.
Data compiled by cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services revealed that exports of palm oil for Jan 1-15, 2023 period fell 36.94 per cent to 409,731 tonnes from 649,782 tonnes recorded in the same period a month ago.
Another cargo surveyor Amspec said exports dipped 36.37 per cent to 401,749 tonnes against 631,401 tonnes previously.
Mumbai-based Sunvin Group commodity research head Anilkumar Bagani said a stronger ringgit and weaker crude oil prices during Asian hours, coupled with persistent downbeat Malaysian palm oil export performance in January, however, capped gains.
“There is still a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the production prospects in Malaysia,” he told Bernama, adding there are talks that Malaysia may restrict or even halt palm oil export to European Union (EU) in retaliation for EU’s policy of restricting South Asian palm oil import due to alleged deforestation.
Meanwhile, Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics owner and co-founder Dr Sathia Varqa said the CPO futures performance was lacklustre today and failed to make any meaningful recovery after the heavy losses last week.
“Poor export data, a stronger ringgit and losses in soybean oil restrained CPO futures from building a strong buying momentum,” he said.
At the close, February 2023 added RM13 to RM3,846 per tonne, March 2023 was RM9 higher at RM3,850 per tonne, and April 2023 rose RM7 to RM3,852 per tonne.
May 2023 increased RM9 to RM3,859 per tonne, June 2023 climbed RM12 to RM3,845 per tonne, while July 2023 went up RM17 to RM3,855 per tonne.
Total volume slipped to 34,812 lots from 66,525 lots on Friday, while open interest eased to 190,241 contracts from 191,732 contracts previously.
The physical CPO price for January South remained unchanged at RM3,900 per tonne. — Bernama
