KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 — Crude palm oil futures (FCPO) contract traded on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Bhd (BMD) as at end-September 2020 rose by 46 per cent year-on-year to 10.9 million lots, or 273 million tonnes, said BMD chief executive officer Samuel Ho.

He said Bursa Malaysia Derivatives’ FCPO achieved several new highs in the first quarter of the year.

"On March 17, the FCPO achieved its highest ever daily trading volume of 126,755 contracts, and in the same month, the FCPO recorded the highest ever monthly trading volume of over 1.6 million contracts.

"We are encouraged by the consistent growth and believe this is a positive development that indicates the rise in confidence of BMD’s products by local and international market participants to manage their price risk exposures amidst global uncertainties,” he said.

Ho said this while presenting BMD’s highlights at the second day of Palm and Lauric Oils Price Outlook Conference and Exhibition (POC).

This year’s edition of the annual event was the first POC to be held entirely virtually.

During his presentation, Ho noted that global markets continue to face uncertainties, and the economic shock of the Covid-19 pandemic has driven most commodity prices down.

"Despite the pandemic’s moderate impact on the outlook for most agricultural commodities, supply chain disruptions and restriction of exports or stockpile commodities raise concerns that food security may be at risk.

"There is also the potential for disruptions to the trade and supply chains with distribution inputs such as fertilisers and labour availability being affected,” he said.

Ho added that the uncertain global economic outlook and its associated uncertainties have continued to exert pressure on the world’s economics, keeping global markets volatile.

"On that note, BMD will continue to provide participants with risk management solutions to hedge their risk exposures against price fluctuations and the ever-changing market environment,” he said. — Bernama