The rainy season in most palm oil producing states is expected to help lift crude palm oil (CPO) prices next week, a dealer said.

Demand is also expected to go up with the festive season, he said, adding that traders would also want to lock in their needs now as tight supply could fuel prices.

During the-week-just-ended, the market was mixed with a lack of many takers.

Sentiments were dampened by the higher end month stocks revealed by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB). Malaysia’s palm oil stocks in October 2009 hit a 10-month high of 1.974 million tonnes from a revised 1.579 million tonnes in September.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the CPO futures for November 2009 contract rose RM51 to RM2,220 per tonne and December 2009 went up RM23 to RM2,255 per tonne.

The January 2010 contract climbed RM24 to RM2,269 and February 2010 also rose RM16 to RM2,288 per tonne.

The week’s turnover stood at 55,342 lots.

The open position jumped to 96,400 contracts on Friday from the 93,667 contracts recorded at the end of last week.

As for the physical contract month, November South stood at RM2,200 per tonne. Source : Business Times