By Anas Abu Hassan

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27 -- The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is expected to continue trading in range bound mode next week as the market is lacking movement catalysts, a dealer said. 

Palm oil trader David Ng said prices are expected to hover between RM3,650 and RM3,800 per tonne.

Meanwhile Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics’ owner and co-founder Dr Sathia Varqa said the market will be focused on February's supply and demand estimates data ahead of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) data due on March 10.

He said prices would likely move according to the estimated data where focus will be on production and the subsequent impact on end-month stocks.

“According to Southern Peninsula Palm Oil Millers’ Association, CPO production for Feb 1-25 was up noticeably by 19.78 per cent after seven months of poor growth," he told Bernama.

For the week just ended, the market was traded mostly higher, tracking strength from better performance of soybean oil prices and anticipation of  lower palm oil stock at the end of this month.

On a weekly basis, CPO futures contracts for March 2021 rose RM72 to RM3,986 per tonne, April 2021 firmed RM208 to RM3,920 per tonne, May 2021 improved by RM220 to RM3,742 per tonne, and June 2021 appreciated RM221 to RM3,601 per tonne. 

Weekly volume declined to 285,584 lots from 324,566 lots the previous week, while open interest eased to 240,111 contracts from 256,112 contracts a week earlier.

The physical CPO price for March South decreased by RM70 to RM4,000 per tonne.

-- BERNAMA