The Pak Banker

Malaysian analyst cuts forecast for crude palm oil price

- KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysian research house CGSCIMB cuts its average crude palm oil (CPO) price forecast for 2022 to 5,122 ringgit (1,107 U.S. dollars) per tonne from 5,600 ringgit (1,211 dollars) per tonne.

The research house said in a statement, the cut is to reflect the sharper-than-expected fall in CPO price in the third quarter when Indonesia aggressive­ly boosted exports to clear palm oil stocks and concerns over slower global growth.

"Our revised price assumes CPO price averaging 4,000 ringgit (865 dollars) per tonne in November to December," it said.

The research house, however, maintained the 2023 average CPO price forecast at 3,800 ringgit (822 dollars) per tonne.

CGS-CIMB also projected palm oil stocks rising 2.6 percent month on month to potentiall­y peak at 2.46 million tonnes by end-November.

Malaysian palm oil stocks climbed 3.8 percent month on month to 2.4 million tonnes in end-October, 3 percent to 5 percent below its and consensus forecasts.

An art collection is tipped to break the $1 billion barrier at auction for the first time when Christie's sells works belonging to late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen this week.

The two-day sale in New York comes as experts say the super wealthy are viewing art as a safe investment this year amid a tumultuous global economy and Russia's war in Ukraine.

Allen made his fortune with the establishm­ent of the PC operating system with his better-known Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 1975. He amassed a huge art collection which he used to lend to museums before his death in 2018 at the age of 65.

The 150 works, to be sold Wednesday and Thursday at Christie's Manhattan headquarte­rs, trace more than 500 years of art history, from Botticelli and Canaletto to Georgia O'Keeffe and Louise Bourgeois, via Claude Monet, Francis Bacon and Edward Hopper.

The collection is also unique for its value: several masterpiec­es are estimated to fetch more than $100 million. They include French painter Paul Cezanne's "Montagne Sainte-Victoire" (1888-1890), which heralded cubism, and Georges Seurat's 1888 work "Les Poseuses, Ensemble (small version)", a renowned work of pointillis­m.

Also going under the gavel is Vincent Van Gogh's "Orchard with Cypresses" and a painting from Paul Gauguin's Tahitian period, "Maternity II" (1899), which controvers­ially depicts his teenage mistress, Pahura.

Allen left Microsoft in 1983, due to health problems and a deteriorat­ing relationsh­ip with Gates, who remained in charge of the company until 2000. Despite their strained friendship, Allen signed Gates's "Giving Pledge" campaign and all proceeds from the auction are to be donated to charity.

Christie's hopes the total sales will become part of art market history and top $1 billion.

The current auction record for a private collection was set this spring by the US couple Harry and Linda Macklowe, with $922 million fetched in auctions conducted by Sotheby's.

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