Palm oil board confident of higher prices, thanks to better ties with India

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) is confident that the price of crude palm oil will hit RM2,300-RM2,400 per tonne in the next few months thanks to better diplomatic ties with India.

In a statement released last week, MPOB chairman Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub said the lowest price the commodity fetched from 2016 to 2019 was RM1,794.50 per tonne. The latest available information on MPOB’s website has crude palm oil priced at RM2,167 as of May 22.

Jazlan thanked the Indian government for stopping import restrictions on refined palm oil from Malaysia, adding that it was a positive development which would help palm oil farmers financially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I hope the price will continue to rise so we can all benefit, especially the palm oil farmers,” he said.

“This price increase follows better diplomatic relations between Malaysia and India after Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional government came to power in March,” he added.

India recently agreed to start buying Malaysian palm oil again after a four-month gap following a diplomatic row with the world’s No. 2 producer of crude palm.

Reuters said Malaysia had signed a deal to buy a record 100,000 tonnes of Indian rice, while leading Indian importers have agreed to buy up to 200,000 tonnes of crude palm oil from Malaysia to be shipped next month and in July.

The highest price crude palm oil reached last year was RM3,025.50 per tonne on Dec 31, but decreased demand due to Covid-19 and the ensuing lockdown in China saw prices fall nearly 30% since Jan 23.

While Reuters noted that purchases from top Ramadan buyers – India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran – picked up in early March, they have slumped since then as governments across the globe enact lockdown measures. - FMT