CPO FUTURES END WEEK SLIGHTLY HIGHER DESPITE FACING PRESSURE EARLIER

By Muhammad Fawwaz Thaqif Nor Afandi

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 13 (Bernama) -- Crude palm oil (CPO) futures ended marginally higher today, supported by improved trading activity despite the pressure faced earlier this week.

Fastmarkets Palm Oil Analytics senior analyst Sathia Varqa said the benchmark contract managed to post slight gains as trading activity picked up in the second half of the week, although overall upside remained capped by weak export demand.

“Trading range widened in the second half with the most active April contract trimming the gains to finish marginally up,” he told Bernama.

He said that this week, when the annual palm oil price outlook conference was held, the market faced three consecutive days of heavy selling, partly tracking sharp losses in vegetable oil futures on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange and Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange ahead of extended holidays.

At the close, the February 2026 contract decreased RM28 to RM3,950 per tonne, March 2026 rose RM27 to RM4,037 per tonne, and April 2026 increased RM13 to RM4,050 per tonne.

The May 2026 contract improved slightly by RM3 to RM4,046 per tonne, June 2026 was unchanged at RM4,040 per tonne, and July 2026 gained by RM2 to RM4,035 per tonne.

Trading volume jumped to 116,044 lots from 88,218 on Thursday, while open interest widened to 230,392 from 225,951 previously.

The new physical CPO price for February South remained unchanged at RM4,050 per tonne.

-- BERNAMA