Fitch foresees lower palm oil prices in 2023
Fitch Ratings foresees Malaysian benchmark crude palm oil (CPO) spot prices will average 850 U.S. dollars per tonne in 2023, significantly lower than 1,175 dollars per tonne in 2022.
The rating agency said in a note on Wednesday that palm oil benchmark prices have rebounded to above 850 dollars per tonne in the fourth quarter of 2022, from the end-September level of around 700 dollars per tonne.
"We expect prices to strengthen further in the first half of 2023 to above the 900 dollars per tonne level," Fitch said.
According to the agency, the outlook for palm oil demand growth has been boosted by Indonesia's decision in December 2022 to increase the share of palm-oil-based fuel in diesel.
However, Fitch expects supply to increase from the second quarter of 2023, and cause prices to drop in the second half.
"Foreign worker availability in Malaysia is gradually improving, and we expect the situation to normalize by mid2023," it said. It also expects healthy soil moisture conditions and lower floodingrelated disruptions to support outpu Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed the latest situation in the Lachin district in Karabakh.
According to a statement by the press service of the Azerbaijani president, the phone talk was held on Friday at the initiative of the French leader, who wanted to speak about relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the situation on the road leading to the city of Khankendi through the Lachin district of Azerbaijan.
"Regarding the situation on the road leading to the city of Khankendi through Lachin district of Azerbaijan, the head of state (Aliyev) noted that representatives of the civil society of Azerbaijan protest against the illegal exploitation of mineral deposits in the country's territories, where the Russian peacekeepers are temporarily deployed, and serious damage to the environment as a result of this exploitation," the statement said.
Aliyev emphasized that nothing hinders the use of the road for civil and humanitarian purposes and that the passage of medical vehicles is ensured through the local office of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The Azerbaijani president said that "the main demand of the civil society representatives is to stop the illegal exploitation of mineral deposits and to ensure environmental monitoring activities in the territory," the statement noted.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a 44-day war in September 2020 over Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
The war, which ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal, saw Azerbaijan liberate several cities and over 300 settlements and villages that were occupied by Armenia for almost 30 years.
Aliyev reminded to Macron that Armenia still occupies eight villages belonging to Azerbaijan and stressed the importance of "balanced and impartial behavior in relation to regional issues," pointing out "antiAzerbaijan activities in Francophonie and some other international organizations," calling them "regrettable."
"Deceased, deceased," a staffer in full protective gear shouted as she handed a nurse a death certificate, their hospital in central China overflowing with Covid patients.
China is battling a wave of infections that have hit the elderly hard, but has officially logged only a handful of deaths from the coronavirus after the government redefined the criteria by which Covid deaths are counted.
At No. 5 People's Hospital in Chongqing, the main entrance lobby had been converted into a makeshift Covid ward when AFP visited.