CPO Futures Close Lower For Third Consecutive Day
By Danni Haizal Danial Donald
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 (Bernama) -- Crude palm oil (CPO) futures on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives continued their downward trend, closing lower for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, in line with weaker soybean oil futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).
Iceberg X Sdn Bhd proprietary trader David Ng said concerns over sluggish palm oil exports and rising inventories continued to pressure market sentiment.
“Hence, we see prices supported above RM4,700 per tonne with resistance at RM4,850 per tonne,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Mumbai-based Sunvin Group commodity research head Anilkumar Bagani said the lower CPO futures were also influenced by the softer Malaysian palm oil export performance, higher than expected production outlook coupled with easing energy prices.
He said the rainy season in Malaysia and Indonesia is promoting further palm oil production gains, with expectations of Malaysian palm oil stocks beyond three million tonnes at end-September.
“UOB Kay Hian has estimated Malaysian palm oil production during Sept 1-20 to be up by 20 per cent to 24 per cent from the Aug 1-20 period. The market was not ready for such a rise in production and has been succumbing to the output pressure.
“Malaysian palm oil exports for Sept 1-20 are estimated by Intertek Testing Services at 714,012 tonnes, down by 12.83 per cent and by AmSpec at 608,120 tonnes, down by 24.7 per cent from their respective export estimates for Aug 1-20 period,” he added.
At the close, the October 2026 contract fell RM38 to RM4,601 per tonne, the November 2026 contract declined RM46 to RM4,685 per tonne and the December 2026 contract slipped RM42 to RM4,768 per tonne.
Meanwhile, the January 2027 contract weakened by RM33 to RM4,851 per tonne, February 2027 slid RM23 to RM4,929 per tonne and March 2027 contracted RM19 to RM4,997 per tonne.
Trading volume increased to 173,211 lots from 144,008 lots on Tuesday, while open interest slipped to 334,386 contracts from 337,546 previously.
The physical CPO price for September South slipped RM60 to RM4,610 per tonne.
-- BERNAMA