By Zufazlin Baharuddin
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 (Bernama) -- Crude palm oil (CPO) futures on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives are expected to trade lower on a technical correction at between RM4,100 and RM4,200 per tonne.
Interband group of companies senior palm oil trader Jim Teh said the bearish price was driven by high palm oil stocks.
Recently, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board reported that Malaysia’s total palm oil stocks rose by 691,835 tonnes, or 24.54 per cent, to 3.51 million tonnes in September this year from 2.82 million tonnes a month earlier.
“Our palm oil stock has hit about 3.5 million tonnes which is the highest for the year 2026. So in a way, with this price range it will help to reduce our inventory stock position,” he told Bernama.
On physical demand, Teh said buyers are expected to come from China, India, Pakistan, West Asia, the European Union and the United States.
Meanwhile, Iceberg X proprietary trader David Ng expects prices to remain range-bound as traders monitor October export performance, soybean oil and crude oil prices for further direction.
“We expect prices to trade between RM4,600 and RM4,800 per tonne next week,” he said.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the November 2026 contract rose RM71 to RM4,536 per tonne, the December 2026 contract increased RM84 to RM4,676 per tonne and the January 2027 contract strengthened by RM60 to RM 4,769 per tonne.
Meanwhile, the February 2027 contract climbed RM42 to RM4,852 per tonne, the March 2027 contract added RM24 to RM 4,926 per tonne and April 2027 stood at RM4,984.
Weekly trading volume expanded to 604,284 lots from 556,937 lots in the preceding week, while open interest slipped to 337,867 contracts from 339,364 contracts previously.
The physical CPO price for October South gained RM50 to RM4,500 per tonne.
-- BERNAMA