Plantation industries and commodities minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said the government would remain relentless in its efforts to fight attempts by anti-palm oil campaigners to discredit the commodity.
In a statement issued by her ministry today, she said she had led numerous trade missions to meet industry players globally to create greater awareness on the many benefits and uses of palm oil apart from it being used only for cooking.
The Malaysia International Agricommodity Expo and Summit from tomorrow to Thursday is a part of this effort.
Participants from a total of 39 countries are expected at the summit.
Zuraida said crude palm oil (CPO) prices are likely to remain weak for most of the third quarter this year (Q3 2022) in the face of Jakarta’s decision to scrap its export levy for all palm oil products until Aug 31.
However, she said, the reimposition of the levy on Sept 1 could lead to a decline in palm oil production in Q4 2022. She said this should boost the CPO price to between RM5,000 and RM5,500 in the final quarter of the year.
The average CPO price for Q3 2022 is projected to range between RM4,800 and RM5,200.
The daily CPO price has declined 24.9% to RM3,631.50 per tonne on July 15 from RM4,838.50 on July 1, 2022.
Zuraida attributed the downward pressure on CPO price to numerous factors such as weaker soybean oil prices and lower oil palm exports in June following the easing of an export ban by Indonesia.
The higher global supply of vegetable oil after Indonesia lifted its export ban, and higher CPO production in June in line with seasonal trends, led to a higher supply in the market and that forced prices to decline.
The CPO price rose 55.9% to RM6,330 per tonne in the January to June 2022 period from RM4,061.50 in the same period a year ago. The higher CPO price during that period was influenced by higher prices of soybean oil (SBO) in the world market.
Palm oil prices are generally influenced by the price performance of other vegetable oils, especially SBO as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.
Palm oil stocks remained at below two million tonnes throughout January to June 2022, a level regarded as “manageable”.
Firmer Brent crude oil prices in the world market also made palm oil a more attractive option for biodiesel feedstock, while concerns over disruptions of vegetable oil supply from the Black Sea region following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also contributed to the higher prices of CPO.
From June 2020, CPO prices started to show an upward trend and between January 2021 and June 2022, CPO prices have on several occasions broken its all-time high record.