KUALA LUMPUR: The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is expected to trend lower next week on profit-taking activities after rallying to above RM5,000 a tonne, palm oil trader David Ng said.

He said, however, expectation of stronger exports in coming weeks is seen as supporting prices in the near term.

“The market next week is forecast to trade with an upward bias on sentiment of a strong export and lower production numbers,” he told Bernama.

The price movement next week is expected to be confined between RM4,800 and RM5,100 per tonne, he said.

Earlier this week, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin said the oil palm industry is expected to contribute an export value of RM100 billion in 2021, an increase from the RM73.3 billion recorded last year.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, December 2021 rose RM250 to RM5,437 a tonne, January 2022 surged RM270 to RM5,205 a tonne, February 2022 advanced RM256 to RM4,993 a tonne, March 2022 added RM243 to RM4,800 a tonne, and April 2022 gave up RM220 to RM4,627 a tonne.

Weekly volume narrowed to 297,387 lots from 358,140 lots in the previous trading week, while open interest improved to 258,518 contracts from 258,213 contracts previously.

The physical CPO price for December South increased by RM70 to RM5,470 a tonne. – Bernama