Palm oil seen hitting RM2,400 per tonne

MELAKA: The price of palm oil is expected to increase gradually to reach RM2,400 per tonne this year, said Deputy Primary Industries Minister Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin.

Citing a Reuters study, he said the rise may be attributed to several factors, including surging demand from the chocolate and fuel industries, domestically and globally.

“It's certainly good news for the palm oil industry, especially for smallholders, and we can see the commodity price increased from RM1,600 per tonne from November last year to more than RM2,000 per tonne today.

“However, we need to keep in mind that for the price to increase, demand and supply of the commodity must be in tandem. If supply is higher than demand, the price will fall,” he told reporters after attending a community cleaning up programme to eradicate dengue fever in Taman Paya Dalam here yesterday.

Shamsul Iskandar said the government, especially the Primary Industries Ministry, was facing many challenges, including quelling accusations, especially from the European Union (EU), over the quality of the country's palm oil.

He said the EU’s move to tag more than 2,000 food products with the ‘no palm oil' label to boycott Malaysia’s palm oil had affected the government’s effort to expand the use of the commodity.