CPO futures close higher on fall in palm oil inventory

CPO futures close higher on fall in palm oil inventory
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Bernama
Friday, 10 May 2013 20:28


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KUALA LUMPUR, May 10 -- Crude palm oil (CPO) futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed higher today on strong buying support for the commodity following positive responses to the fall in inventory level in April.
The Malaysian Palm Oil Board said CPO stocks fell by 11.35 per cent to 1.93 million tonnes last month from 2.17 million tonnes in March.
Cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, said exports of Malaysian palm oil products for May 1-10 dropped 18.4 per cent to 377,193 tonnes from 462,276 tonnes shipped during April 1-10.
Phillip Futures Sdn Bhd investment analyst, David Ng, said the decline in inventory was mainly attributed to China increasing the purchase.
"Middle East countries were also stocking up the commodity ahead of the Ramadan fasting month in July," he told Bernama today.
Interband Group senior palm oil trader, Jim Teh, said the decline in the palm oil inventory level was good for the market and it could help improve the commodity's price.
Spot month May 2013 gained RM2 to RM2,290 a tonne, June 2013 added RM25 to RM2,305, July 2013 increased RM32 to RM2,319 and August 2013 gained RM30 to RM2,316.
Turnover improved to 32,232 lots from 20,076 lots on Thursday and open interest rose to 196,369 contracts from 185,031 contracts previously.
On the physical market, May South increased RM30 to RM2,310 a tonne.