By Kisho Kumari Sucedaram

KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 (Bernama) -- Crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is expected to trade on a downside bias next week due to weak demand, which may weigh on prices, said palm oil trader David Ng.

He said the market is projected to also trade weaker, given the persistent weakness in the soybean oil market. 

“Therefore, we expect the market to trade between RM3,850 a tonne and RM4,000 a tonne next week,” he told Bernama. 

Meanwhile, CGS International Futures Malaysia Sdn Bhd said prices are likely to stay under pressure in the coming weeks, at least until festival-related demand from the biggest buyer, India, picks up at the end of August or early September.

“There was downbeat sentiment across commodities due to weak demand,” it said.

For the week just ended, the market traded mostly lower due to pressure from the expectations of higher output in the coming weeks, coupled with the weakness in the Chicago soybean oil market and weaker Dalian palm olein prices.

On a weekly basis, the August 2024 contract ended on Friday RM31 higher at RM4,044 a tonne, while  September was RM6 lower at RM3,975 a tonne, October 2024 shed RM19 to RM3,942 a tonne, November 2024 decreased by RM22 to RM3,927 a tonne, December 2024 slipped RM24 to RM3,925 a tonne, and January 2025 fell RM23 to RM3,933 a tonne.

Total weekly volume grew to 286,779 lots from 257,940 in the previous week, while open interest climbed to 218,561 contracts from 216,920 a week ago.

The physical CPO price for July South firmed by RM10 to RM4,060 a tonne on Friday from RM4,050 a week earlier.

-- BERNAMA