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Palm oil experts are moderately bullish on the recovery of crude palm oil (CPO) prices this year, with limited upside seen. The industry is expected to shape up better next year instead, on the back of a slowdown in production and high palm oil stockpiles easing on higher biodiesel mandates.

Sabah is set to receive a RM13bil investment, its single biggest so far, at the Palm Oil Industry Cluster (POIC) in Lahad Datu.

The ringgit is expected to weaken to 4.15 against the US dollar by year-end as the local note is vulnerable to China’s economic growth, according to an analyst.

The price of crude palm oil (CPO) is expected to improve to between RM2,240 and RM2,360 a tonne this year if the benchmark Brent crude oil continues to trade within US$60 and US$65 per barrel, according to LMC International Ltd chairman Dr James Fry.

Foreign investors are slowly coming back to Malaysia after a sell-off last year, attracted by reduced political tensions, the market pricing and hopes for better returns after economic growth picked up in late 2018.

After a year of bleak crude palm oil (CPO) prices, FGV Holdings Bhd, the world's largest CPO producer, sees this year as the "turning point" for the palm oil industry.

Malaysian palm oil producers are requesting that the government "stall all negotiations on business dealings" with the European Union (EU), in light of the latter's push to curb usage of the commodity in biofuels.

: Recent European Union (EU) decisions to ban palm oil for biofuels by 2020 in Europe smack of discrimination as well as asserting colonial mentality on mainly Asian farmers and nations like Indonesia and Malaysia.

Four bodies – representing some 650,000 smallholders and over five million dependents – are urging Putrajaya to halt all trade negotiations with Europe pending resolution of the European Union's proposed ban on the use of palm oil as biofuel by 2020.

The classification of all palm oil produce as a high indirect land use change (ILUC) risk is “unacceptable” since such damaging findings are obtained by erroneous and biased interpretations by the European Commission (EC), says the ministry of primary industries.

• The Malaysian ringgit might benefit from a trade deal between the U.S. and China, according to the head of foreign exchange strategy for emerging markets Asia at J.P. Morgan. • Reports have suggested that China might buy more commodities from the U.S. if they come to a deal. • "We think that U.S.-China trade tensions are going to help put a floor under things like crude palm oil prices, because China's going to be importing more of those ... commodities from the U.S," said Jonathan Cavenagh.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said the representative of an Austrian-registered firm which controls a distribution network in Eastern Europe is currently inspecting coconut oil mills in southern Luzon to explore the possibility of producing coconut products for export.