By Karina Imran

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 (Bernama) -- The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives extended yesterday’s losses to end lower today, tracking weakness in related soybean oil on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange. 

Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics owner and co-founder Sathia Varqa said the lacklustre equities market performance due to fears of a global slowdown also weighed on CPO prices.

“Palm traded on both sides of the market but mostly staying in the red today.

“The lower-than-expected Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) November production data offered a higher start to the day but gains dissipated on lack of fresh news or data to keep the buying momentum going,” he told Bernama. 

According to the MPOA palm oil data, CPO production for November 2022 fell 6.09 per cent compared to October 2022. 

“The reduction is slightly higher from the general market consensus of a five per cent decline but a sharp fall than our own estimate of a three per cent decline,” said Mumbai-based Sunvin Group commodity research head Anilkumar Bagani. 

He said the pressure from a continuous fall in Argentina soybean oil free on board (FOB) prices was also a reason behind palm oil’s lack of gains. 

At the close, December 2022 and January 2023 contracts fell RM25 each to RM3,886 per tonne and RM3,910 per tonne, respectively.

Meanwhile, both February 2023 and April 2023 declined by RM26 to RM3,943 per tonne and RM3,975 per tonne, respectively. 

March 2023 decreased by RM29 to RM3,972 per tonne and May 2023 eased by RM12 to RM3,963 per tonne. 

Total volume shrank to 66,998 lots from 72,148 lots on Wednesday, while open interest edged down to  281,394 contracts from 285,882 contracts previously.

Physical CPO price for December South contracted by RM50 to RM3,950 a tonne.

-- BERNAMA