PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Palm Oil Board registered an increase in production for March, reaching 1.38 million tonnes, marking the start of this year’s seasonal uptrend with fresh fruit bunch harvest expected to rise month-on-month from March until September or October.
Kenanga Research said the crude palm oil (CPO) price held well in March at RM4,740 per tonne.
However, as prices usually start bottoming out in February and as the Brazil soybean harvest starts, edible oil prices should ease a little seasonally in the second quarter.
“This seasonal downtrend has been expected. Recent softness in hydrocarbon oil prices is another dampener for bio-diesel demand, but the impact on CPO prices remains limited.
“We maintain an average CPO price of RM4,200 per tonne for 2025 and RM4,000 in 2026.
“All in all, edible oil prices should stay firm but palm oil premium to soybean should narrow; hence, our slightly lower forecast 2026 CPO price,” it said.
