KUALA LUMPUR: Crude palm oil (CPO) futures on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives are expected to trade on a downward bias next week, given the persistent weak demand seen recently, a dealer said.

Palm oil trader David Ng noted that the subdued demand, particularly from China and India, is driven by the decline in soybean oil prices.

"As such, the CPO price is expected to move between RM3,750 and RM3,920," he told Bernama.

Similarly, Interband Group of Companies senior palm oil trader Jim Teh expects CPO to trade lower next week due to high stocks, highlighting the Malaysian Palm Oil Board's (MPOB) recent report which revealed that Malaysia's palm oil stock increased to 1.83 million tonnes in August 2024.

"Aside from weak demands from China and India, physical demands would still come from Pakistan, the United States, the European Union and Middle East countries," he said.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, spot month September 2024 contract dropped by RM50 to RM3,950 per tonne, October 2024 was lower by RM26 to RM3,909 and benchmark November 2024 was down by RM84 to RM3,814.

The December 2024 contract slid RM116 to RM3,775 per tonne, January 2025 declined by RM123 to RM3,754 and February 2025 slipped by RM128 to RM3,743.

Total weekly volume increased to 422,487 lots from 305,672 last week, while open interest rose to 259,519 contracts from 232,403 previously.

The physical CPO price for September South went down RM20 to RM4,010 per tonne on Friday from RM4,030 last week.

Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its subsidiaries will be closed on Monday, Sept 16, 2024, in observance of both Prophet Muhammad's birthday and the Malaysia Day public holiday.

The exchange said that operations, including trading and settlement activities, would resume the following day.

 - BERNAMA