Crude palm oil (CPO) futures on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives are expected to trade steadier with the return of investors after the Chinese New Year holiday. “Next week we hope more foreign traders will re-enter the market and with this, we will have a better CPO price movement,” said Interband Group Senior Palm Oil Trader Jim Teh. Another dealer said production was likely to fall further in February and even more in March. Market players are also waiting the release of export estimates for the first 20 days of February by Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance which can provide the lead on market direction.

They have predicted that the February stock will drop further and this will in turn push prices up. Total CPO production in January fell to 1.32 million tonnes compared to 1.52 million tonnes in the previous month. This week, the March 2010 contract gained RM24 to RM2,610 per tonne, April 2010 rose RM20 to RM2,599 per tonne, May 2010 increased RM16 to RM2,596 per tonne and June 2010 stood at RM2,590 per tonne. The weekly turnover dropped to 14,925 lots from 62,067 lots last week as the market was closed on Monday and Tuesday for Chinese New Year celebrations. Open interest yesterday was 80,465 contracts compared with 78,551 contracts at the end of the previous week. On the physical palm oil market, March South stood at RM2,610 per tonne. — Bernama Source : Business Times