Crude palm oil (CPO) futures prices on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is expected to be choppy next week as the market keenly awaits the release of export and production data for August, a dealer said.

She said cargo surveyor, Intertek Testing Services, was scheduled to announce export data tomorrow while Societe Generale de Surveillance was anticipated to announced similar data on Monday, both for the Sept 1-10 period.

The market expects the data to be bearish to the market while the Malaysian Palm Oil Board is expected to announce favourable production figures for August, hence balancing up on market sentiment.

For the week just-ended, futures prices were mixed as traders were still concerned over the uncertain global market situation.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, September 2011 decreased RM55 to RM3,130 per tonne, October 2011 eased RM22 to RM3,087, November 2011 was unchanged at RM3,050 and December 2011 dropped RM4 to RM3,039.

Weekly turnover rose by 66,284 lots to 82,057 lots while open interest, as of Friday, stood at 134,634 contracts.

On the physical market, September South dipped RM60 to RM3,140 per tonne. — Bernama

Source: Business Times