Crude palm oil futures flat Rs 763 per 10 kg in afternoon trade

Crude palm oil futures were steady at Rs 763 per 10 kg on September 11 as participants increased their long positions. Malaysian palm oil futures marginally slipped 0.1 percent to trade at 2,811 ringgit on Bursa Malaysia.

The Malaysia Palm Oil Board (MPOB) reported stocks of around 1.7 million tonne in August, which is nearly unchanged from the previous month.

According to MPOB data, palm oil production in Malaysia touched near 1.86 MT in August compared to 1.81 MT last month. Whereas exports from the country declined by more than 10 percent from previous month at 1.58 MT due to lower imports by the largest palm oil export market, India. However, better domestic consumption kept stock nearly steady last month.

India's palm oil imports in August dropped 13.9 percent from a year earlier to 734,351 tonne, Solvent Extractors Association said on September 11, due to a sluggish recovery in demand from hotels and restaurants as local coronavirus cases continued to rise, Reuters reported.

In the futures market, crude palm oil (CPO) for September delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 764.30 and a low of Rs 759.10 per 10 kg on the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX). So far in the current series, CPO has touched a low of Rs 626 and a high of Rs 778.70.

CPO delivery for September was unchanged at Rs 763 per 10 kg at 15:58 hours IST on a business turnover of 4,380 lots. The same for October delivery gained Rs 0.6, or 0.08 percent, at Rs 763.50 per 10 kg on a business volume of 2,788 lots.

The value of September and October’s contracts traded so far is Rs 42.64 crore and Rs 44.13 crore, respectively.

Kotak Securities said MCX September CPO futures has support at Rs 746 per 10 kg whereas resistance is seen at Rs 775.