Hot weather to improve palm oil demand, push price to RM3,800-RM4,000 per tonne this year

KUALA LUMPUR - The demand for Malaysian palm oil is expected to improve this year propped up by the hot weather, pushing up the price to between RM3,800 to RM4,000 per tonne, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board said.

"We hope we could still produce around 19 million tonnes (this year) from 18 million tonnes last year because for this year, slowly we are getting the foreign labour coming in,” director-general Datuk Dr Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir told reporters after the Media Appreciation ceremony here today.

However, he said the country’s oil palm cultivation is forecast to be impacted by El Nino next year, reducing crude palm oil production by up to five per cent.

He said the hot weather would impact most of the oil palm cultivation area in Sabah and Sarawak.

Ahmad Parveez said the high temperature would affect the weevil that is required to do the pollination.

"Similarly, the plant itself will react to the high weather where the ratio producing male and female flower will change where they produced more male flower.. when the plant is stressed, it will produce more male flower (less yield),” he added. - BERNAMA