KUALA LUMPUR, July 3: Malaysian crude palm oil futures are expected to trade between 2,300 and 2,500 ringgit ($669-$727) a ton in coming weeks, leading industry analyst Dorab Mistry said.

So long as cereals, coarse grains and oilseeds continue to fight for acreage and China and India continue to grow rapidly, this bull market will continue its journey, Mistry told a conference in Beijing.

The speech was made available to Reuters on Tuesday.

Corrections and setbacks will happen but the end of this bull market is not yet in sight. The benchmark September contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 7 ringgit at 2,475 ringgit a ton by 0808 gmt.

Mistry said the Malaysian palm oil stock level of around 1.2 million tons, which is equivalent to one month's production, was too tight and refiners were finding it difficult to get supplies.

Therefore, my forecast is that for the next six weeks, we shall see CPO futures for the third position on the BMD to trade in a range of 2,300 to 2,500 ringgit. Palm oil is nearly 11 per cent off a historic high of 2,764 ringgit reached last month as worries of a stock build-up due to weakening exports persist.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products in June fell 15.8 per cent to 991,620 tons from the 1,178,086 tons shipped in May, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said.

But industry officials say palm oil demand is expected to pick up from July as nations from South Asia to the Middle East lock in supplies for the Muslim holy month of Ramazan, which starts in mid-September.—Reuters