MPOC expects CPO prices to increase next year

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KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) expected crude palm oil price (CPO) to increase to between RM2,100 and RM2,500 next year, lifted by factors such as biofuel demand and petroleum price level.

Its chief executive officer, Tan Sri Yusof Basiron, said besides supply and demand, biofuel demand and petroleum price level would determine whether more or less of biodiesel would be used.

“The announcement by Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister, Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas, to impose a requirement for biodiesel to use seven per cent palm oil, from five per cent now, was a way to firm up the CPO price,” he said.

Basiron said this on the sidelines of MPOC’s International Palm Oil Trade Fair and Seminar 2014 here yesterday.

Uggah had said the move aimed to lower stocks and boost prices that had declined by over 20 per cent this year.

Basiron said the government also tried to remove depressing factors on prices by providing export duty exemption for CPO.

“This would remove any bearish factors affecting palm oil price.

“The move will also stimulate the country’s export and help rationalise the stock level as the palm oil output was entering a low production cycle,” he said. — Bernama