Highest CPO Price Of US$713 Per Tonne Seen

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 (Bernama) -- Experts and analysts at the Malaysian Palm Oil Trade Fair and Seminar 2016, which ended Thursday, forecast various price levels for the crude palm oil (CPO) with the highest being US$713 (RM3,000) per tonne. Currently, the CPO prices are around US$617 (RM2,600) per tonne. Leading industry analyst, Thomas Mielke, said the prices were set to rally soon and temporarily be between US$689 (RM2,900) and RM3,000 per tonne by early 2017 as global palm oil stocks in Indonesia and Malaysia continued to come down. (US$1=RM4.20) "The palm oil is currently undervalued. The rise in prices is due to low palm stocks and export supplies and a slower-than-expected recovery in production," he said at the seminar. CIMB Securities Regional Head of Plantations, Ivy Ng, predicted the 'golden crop' to trade in the range of between RM2,400 and RM2,800 per tonne for the rest of the year, depending on how the ringgit fared. At 6 pm (Thursday), the ringgit was quoted at 4.2110/2170 against the US dollar. Meanwhile, Chairman of the UK-based LMC International Ltd, James Fry, said the CPO prices would trade between US$675 (RM2,830) and US$700 (RM2,934) a tonne in November-December this year and then move up briefly in January-February as Malaysian Palm Oil Board stocks fall with lower monthly production on a seasonal basis. He said it would fall to US$600 (RM2,515) in the second half of 2017 with South-East Asian output and stocks surging as the El-Nino's impact vanished. El-Nino has resulted in the industry dealing with intense drought that impacts oil palm yields. Fry's prediction is based on a Brent crude oil forecast of US$45 per barrel. However, Indian vegetable oils trading company, Godrej International Ltd Director, Dorab Mistry, gave a more bearish outlook saying that it would trade lower than RM2,200 by end-December. "The El-Nino-inspired bull market was "shortlived" as palm oil price has this year only rose to as high as RM2,800 per tonne," he said. On the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Thursday, spot month October 2016 was down RM40 to RM2,630 a tonne, November 2016 slipped RM32 to RM2,625 a tonne, December 2016 shed RM35 to RM2,618 a tonne and January 2017 fell RM28 to RM2,626 a tonne. -- BERNAMA