Commodity Roundup:
CPO futures, tin at record highs
April 11 2007
CRUDE PALM OILCRUDE palm oil (CPO) futures prices on Bursa Malaysia
Derivatives Bhd maintained an upward performance for the second consecutive
day, hitting another new high at close yesterday, riding on growing demand,
particularly in China and India, a dealer said.
He said the official data on the March exports and production from the
Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) also boosted yesterdays futures prices in the
market.
MPOB said the countrys CPO production in March rose by 9.25 per cent to
1.08 million tonnes.
The board said exports of palm oil last month stood at 1.051 million tonnes,
up 29.87 per cent, while imports were 31,711 tonnes, up 13.43 per cent.
At close yesterday, April 2007 rose by RM30 to settle at RM2,185 per tonne,
May 2007 added RM18 to RM2,170 per tonne, June 2007 contract increased by RM21
to RM2,153 per tonne, and July 2007 gained RM5 to settle at RM2,135 per tonne.
Volume advanced to 13,286 lots from 11,027 lots at Mondays close while open
interest declined to 980 contracts from 1,108 contracts previously.
On the physical market, April South added RM25 to RM2,200 per tonne.
RUBBER
THE Malaysian rubber market closed lower in quiet trading yesterday due to
profit-taking activities after Mondays gains, a dealer said.
Many of the traders took advantage of the current tight market supply
situation to relinquish rubber stocks and make quick gains, he said.
The tight supply was due to the heavy rainfall and wintering season in the
major producing countries.
The Malaysian Rubber Board official physical price for tyre-grade SMR 20
dropped 2 sen to 733 per kg from Mondays 735 per kg.
Latex in bulk, meanwhile, lost 5 sen to 557 per kg from 562 per kg
previously.
BANGKOK: Tokyo rubber futures ended mixed yesterday as day-traders cashed in
profit but fresh buying supported prices.
The benchmark rubber contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (Tocm) for
September delivery settled unchanged at 287.5 yen (100 yen = RM2.89) per kg.
The April contract rose 0.3 yen while other contracts fell between 0.6 yen and
1.6 yen as players took profit from a recent rise.
The benchmark fell briefly below the closely watched 285 yen on profit-taking,
but rebounded as players bought on dips, dealers said.
The wintering dry season in Thailand, when latex output falls, is ending with
farmers in some parts of the southern rubber growing areas having restarted
tapping.
Physical prices were expected to remain firm over the next few weeks
because of rain in some parts of Thailand, they said.
Trading was more active than on Monday, with some users buying Thai RSS3 and
Indonesia SIR20 through Singapore-based dealers, traders said.
However, physical rubber prices were quoted slightly lower yesterday in
line with Tocom.
TIN
THE Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM) closed at US$14,620 (US$1 = RM3.44) per
tonne, reaching an all-time high amid supply concerns in the marketplace,
dealers said.
Concerns are still there after Indonesia, the worlds largest producer of tin
after China, moved to close down illegal smelting operations and tighten
regulations in the countrys mineral mining activities, causing prices to soar
to an all-time high today, one of the dealers said.
The upward trend movement will continue for the next couple of weeks, he
said.
Price on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was unavailable as it was closed
overnight for the Easter celebrations.
On the KLTM, turnover declined to 27 tonnes compared to 60 tonnes previously
with Japanese, European and local traders contributing to the bulk of
transactions.
At the opening level, bids stood at 52 tonnes against offers of 13 tonnes.
The price differential between the KLTM and the LME expand to a premium of
US$885 per tonne compared to US$615 per tonne previously. Bernama
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