Kuala Lumpur: Crude palm oil (CPO) futures on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives are projected to experience a slight downturn next week due to a decline in export demand, according to palm oil trader David Ng. He highlighted a continuous drop in demand from India in recent weeks, though he anticipated an improvement by the end of the week. “We expect the commodity to trade between RM4,500 and RM4,700 per tonne,” Ng informed Bernama.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Jim Teh, a senior palm oil trader with the Interband Group of Companies, predicted that CPO prices would range between RM4,100 and RM4,300 per tonne. This forecast comes in spite of a report from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) indicating a reduction in palm oil stocks. The MPOB’s January 2025 industry performance report, released on Monday, revealed a 2.90 percent decrease in Malaysia’s processed palm oil stockpiles to 790,817 tonnes in January, down from 814,426 tonnes the previous month. Overall palm oil stocks fell 7.55 percent to 1.58 million tonnes from 1.71 million tonnes in December.

The CPO futures market saw mixed movements across different contract months. On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the February 2025 spot-month contract decreased by RM56 to RM4,725 per tonne. In contrast, the March 2025 contract increased by RM99 to RM4,700 per tonne, April 2025 gained RM88 to RM4,592 per tonne, May 2025 added RM90 to RM4,499 per tonne, June 2025 climbed RM84 to RM4,404 per tonne, and July 2025 advanced RM60 to RM4,321 per tonne.

Additionally, weekly trading volume rose significantly to 430,283 lots, compared to 375,637 lots the previous week. Open interest also expanded to 230,867 contracts from 227,401 contracts. The physical CPO price for February South decreased by RM20 to RM4,800 per tonne.