The Plantation, Industries, and Commodity Minister, expects the Crude Palm Oil price to continue on its upward trajectory and could even reach RM9300 a tonne by the third quarter of the year.
Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin said the figure was achievable based on the development of crude palm oil futures contract trading on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives.
Commenting on the trend of CPO which has soared over RM8,000 at the beginning of last month and was at RM7,546 per tonne as of last week, Zuraida said the price increase was indeed beneficial to farmers and the government but may cause the increase in prices of palm oil-related products used by consumers.
However, she downplayed the rising costs as the Government is committed to giving subsidies which are 20 percent of the CPO for Malaysian consumption. This will protect consumers on the price increase and to a certain extent on palm oil-related goods.
Recently, Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Berhad successfully completed the first physical delivery of its East Malaysia Crude Palm Oil Futures Contract (FEPO) in Sabah.
The delivery saw a total of eight contracts, representing 200 metric tonnes of Crude Palm Oil transacted between the seller, Green Edible Oil Sdn Bhd, and the buyer, Kunak Refinery Sdn Bhd at one of the approved Port Tank Installations in East Malaysia, Sandakan, Sabah. The Port Tank Installation is operated by Sawit Bulkers Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sawit Kinabalu Group, which is the premier investment arm of the Sabah state government in the oil palm industry.
From its launch date to February 2022, Bursa Malaysia Derivatives recorded a total trading volume of 3,250 contracts which is equivalent to 81,250 metric tonnes of CPO. Its highest daily trading volume was recorded on 5 January 2022 at 122 contracts representing 3,050 metric tonnes of CPO.
